49 killed in Argentina train crash

Argentina’s president declared a two-day period of mourning after a commuter train plowed into a barrier at a Buenos Aires station Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds more, CNN reported Thursday.

In its report, CNN says video from the scene showed rescuers prying open windows of twisted train cars to reach trapped passengers. Crews carried bleeding victims on stretchers through the busy Once station; some victims were taken to area hospitals by helicopter.

CNN quoted Argentina’s state news agency Telam as saying that the crash injured 675 people and more than 460 were hospitalized while family members flooded local hospitals, clamoring for news of missing loved ones.

Wednesday’s crash was among the worst in Argentina’s history, and in 1970, 200 people died when two trains crashed north of Buenos Aires, CNN said. (Cambodia News staff)