3 killed, 135 injured in Argentina train crash

Updated: 2013-06-14 09:16

(Xinhua)

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BUENOS AIRES - A train crash early Thursday outside Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina, has left three people dead and another 135 injured, Minister of the Interior and Transportation Florencio Randazzo said Thursday.

"There are three deaths and 135 people were injured" after a moving train carrying passengers during the morning rush-hour crashed into another stationary train that was empty, the minister said.

The accident occurred at 7:07 am local time (1007 GMT) on the Sarmiento rail line in greater Buenos Aires, the same line where a train crash last year killed 52 people.

The accident occurred at Castelar station, some 30 kilometers west of Buenos Aires.

Minister Randazzo told reporters that officials have decided to suspend train service (on that line) for 24 hours so the law enforcement agency can calmly investigate into the cause of the accident and find out what really happened.

Officials don't yet know whether the crash was caused by mechanical failure, human error or some other reason. The driver of the train was also injured and taken to hospital along with the injured passengers.

Argentina's 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, expressed "his full solidarity with the victims" of the accident, which he described as "another tragedy foretold and avoidable."

President Cristina Fernandez and other government officials were "very moved" and "saddened" by the tragedy, Randazzo said.

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