BUCHAREST, Dec 19 (NNN-Xinhua) — Eleven people were injured after a passenger train and a freight train collided head on Wednesday near the capital city of Bucharest, southeastern Romania.
According to the local Emergency Situations Inspectorate of Prahova County, where the accident occurred, 10 people were sent to the local emergency hospital in Ploiesti, capital city of the county, while the 11th who had suffered polytrauma, was taken over by helicopter to Bucharest.
The inspectorate earlier said five people were injured, including the freight train driver, a staffer of the passenger train and three passengers.
“No one is in serious condition,” announced the local emergency authorities.
Several rescue teams rushed to the scene and evaluated the wounded on the spot, while the uninjured were directed to the waiting room.
The railway traffic is closed in both directions on the Bucharest-Ploiesti South route for some one hour.
According to the preliminary information, the two trains derailed at the Ploiesti train marshalling station after the freight train ignored the stop signal and collided with the passenger train traveling on the Ploiesti South-Bucharest route.
The passenger train, with some 50 passengers on board, had just left Ploiesti South station and was heading for Bucharest. At the time of the impact, the passenger train had a speed of about 20 km/h.
Passengers were quoted by local media as saying that they heard a loud noise, and then they were thrown into each other.
According to the Romanian railway company, a specialized commission will investigate the accident to determine the exact reason. — NNN-AGENCIES