2013 Buenos Aires train crash

2013 Buenos Aires train crash
Buffer stops of Once station,
where the train collided
Details
DateOctober 19, 2013
07:35 local time (10:35 UTC)
LocationOnce railway station, Buenos Aires
CountryArgentina
LineMoreno–Once
OperatorUnidad de Gestión Operativa Mitre Sarmiento
Incident typeCollision with buffer stops
CauseSleeping at the controls
Statistics
Trains2
Passengers1000
Crew1
Deaths0
Injured105 (at least 5 serious)[1]

The Buenos Aires train crash occurred on October 19, 2013 when a passenger train failed to stop at a terminal station in Buenos Aires, Argentina, injuring 105 people.[1] As of October 2013, the cause of the accident was sleeping at the controls.

Antecedents

[edit]
Main articles: 2012 Buenos Aires rail disaster and 2013 Castelar rail accident

The Sarmiento Line had had similar accidents in the previous months.[2] The 2012 rail disaster took place on February 22, 2012, and caused 52 deaths and 700 injuries. The ensuing political scandal led to the demotion of Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi, and a trial for the causes of the accident that is still open.[3]

The line's private operator, TBA, had its concessions to operate the Mitre and Sarmiento lines revoked on May 24, 2012.[4] Both lines were operated by the private consortium UGOMS at the time of the accident.[5]

Accident

[edit]

At 07:35 local time (10:35 UTC),[6] a passenger train failed to stop at Once Station in Buenos Aires, colliding with the buffer stop.[7] The lead car jumped the retaining wall and landed on the platform.[7] More than 99 people were reported injured,[8] five seriously.[7]

The driver, who was among the injured, was confronted by a number of passengers who yelled "Murderer!, Murderer!" at him. He was rescued by police and taken to hospital.[9] The driver, Julio Benítez, was arrested after he was found with the train event recorder hidden in his backpack, The other train's passengers survived when they hear a bang;.[10] The police recovered the hard drive.[11] Benítez had attempted to destroy the device.[12]

A minor riot broke out outside the station, which was quelled by the police.[9] A fleet of 30 ambulances and two helicopters took the injured to around a dozen different hospitals.[8]

Cause

[edit]

As of October 2013, the cause of the accident had not been determined. Pablo Gunning, spokesman of the Sarmiento Line, said that there were no reported problems in the train, and that it would not be advisable to speculate a reason only a few hours after the accident.[13]

A witness claimed that the train had problems stopping at the two previous stations to Once;[8] another one said a similar thing about the Ciudadela station several miles to the west.[14] Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo reported that the train entered Once Station at a speed of 22 kilometres per hour (14 mph) instead of the regulatory 12 kilometres per hour (7.5 mph).[11] Randazzo also stated that, according to the GPS, the train stopped at all the stations without problems. He said that the unit had undergone general maintenance on October 15, and that the alcohol test on the motorman had a negative result.[11] He pointed out as well that the motorman had not called to report any problem during the journey.[11]

Several new trains were purchased in China a few months before, but the train that crashed was one of the older ones. At the time of the accident, the new trains were only used from Monday to Friday; the accident took place on Saturday.[15]

Political reactions

[edit]
Florencio Randazzo headed the Ministry of Interior, which controlled rail transport in Argentina

Activist Luis D'Elía stated that the accident was the result of a conspiracy to undermine Front for Victory candidates in the mid-term legislative elections scheduled for October 27 (a week after the incident). He accused Congressman Fernando Solanas and the union leader Rubén Sobrero of being involved. D'Elía had said similar things about the Castelar rail accident, which took place in June along the same line.[16] Minister of Interior Florencio Randazzo was asked about this, and did not dismiss any potential cause.[17] The Secretary of Public Security, Sergio Berni, made a similar statement, adding that the investigation led by Judge Ariel Lijo will clarify the causes.[18]

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had been operated from a subdural hematoma a few days before. Still in post-operative care, she was not informed of the event.[19]

Fernando Solanas, candidate for Senator, blamed Minister Florencio Randazzo for the accident. He considers him responsible for the poor maintenance of the railways.[20] Congresswoman Margarita Stolbizer asked that Randazzo and Planning Minister Julio de Vido resign.[21] The Mayor of Tigre and candidate for Congress on the opposition Renewal Front ticket, Sergio Massa, preferred to wait for the investigations before making opinions, and criticized the lack of long term policies.[1]

Aftermath

[edit]

Some of the relatives of the deceased in the 2012 accident repudiated this new incident. They considered that there is no proof of any sabotage, and pointed to the already manifested concerns about the condition of the specific unit that crashed.[22] Gregorio Dalbón, hired to represent a number of the victims in this new incident, asked that the driver, Julio Benítez, be detained by Judge Lijo on the charges of gross negligence, destroying evidence and obstruction of justice.[23]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Sergio Massa: "Cuando no hay políticas de carácter permanente, la gente lo paga"" [Sergio Massa: "When there are no long term policies, people pay for it"]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 20, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  2. ^ "Argentine train crashes into Buenos Aires Once station". BBC News Online. October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  3. ^ "El amargo recuerdo de la peor tragedia del Sarmiento en Once" [The sad reminder of the worst tragedy of the Sarmiento in Once]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  4. ^ "Finalmente, el Gobierno le sacó las concesiones del Sarmiento y del Mitre a TBA". Clarín. May 24, 2012. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013.
  5. ^ "De TBA al Estado, el derrotero de los operadores de la línea Sarmiento" [From TBA to the state, the misventures of the operators of the Sarmiento line]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 23, 2013. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
  6. ^ "Primeras imágenes del accidente del tren Sarmiento" [First images of the Sarmiento train accident] (in Spanish). Info News. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c "Dozens hurt in train crash in Buenos Aires railway terminal". News.com. October 20, 2013. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  8. ^ a b c Laski, Oscar. "At least 99 hurt in Buenos Aires train accident". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  9. ^ a b Pachter, Damian. "Argentine Commuter Train Slams Into Station, Again". The New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  10. ^ "El motorman se llevó el disco rígido con las imágenes de la cámara de seguridad del tren" [The conductor absconded with the train event recorder hard drive]. Info News. October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  11. ^ a b c d "Randazzo descartó fallas técnicas y dijo que el tren iba más rápido que el promedio" [Randazzo ruled out technical failure and said the train was going faster than the average] (in Spanish). Info News. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  12. ^ "Acusan al motorman de haber robado el disco rígido de la cámara de seguridad de la cabina antes de ser detenido" [The motorman is accused of stealing the hard drive of the cabin's security camera before being detained]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  13. ^ "Desde la empresa aseguran que el tren "no reportó fallas"" [The company says that the train "had no problems"]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  14. ^ "Hubo gente que voló por el impacto" [There were people flying after the impact]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  15. ^ "El tren que se accidentó es "una formación reciclada"" [The train that crashed is a "recycled unit"]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  16. ^ "Luis D´Elía denunció que un "sabotaje electoral" causó el nuevo accidente del Sarmiento" [Luis D'Elía dennounced that an "electoral sabotage" caused the new accident of the Sarmiento]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  17. ^ "Florencio Randazzo descartó problemas técnicos y advirtió sobre la velocidad a la que ingresó el tren a Once" [Florencio Randazzo dismissed technical problems and warned about the speed of the train when it got into Once]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  18. ^ "Sergio Berni: "Antes de las elecciones siempre pasan cosas que dejan dudas"" [Segio Berni: "Unclear events always take place before elections"]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 20, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  19. ^ "Cristina Kirchner "no está informada" del accidente, informó Randazzo" [Cristina Kirchner "is not informed" about the accident, Randazzo said]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  20. ^ "Pino Solanas: "No pueden reconstruir los ferrocarriles los mismos que los destrozaron"" [Pino Solanas: "The railways can not be rebuilt by those who destroyed them"]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  21. ^ "Margarita Stolbizer pide la renuncia de Randazzo y De Vido" [Margarita Stolbizer ask for the resignation of Randazzo and De Vido]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  22. ^ "Familiares de la tragedia de Once culpan al Gobierno por el nuevo accidente" [Relatives of the tragedy of Once blame the government for the new accident]. La Nación (in Spanish). October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  23. ^ "Accidente de Once: víctimas pedirán que el motorman quede preso" [Once Accident: Victims to ask that the conductor be detained]. Info News. October 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2013.

34°36′31″S 58°24′31″W / 34.6086°S 58.4085°W / -34.6086; -58.4085

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