Jun 22 2009
June 22, 2009 – Metro Crash
From WTOP.com
WASHINGTON – At least two people have died and several people are trapped and injured after a Metro Red Line train derailed and collided with another Metro train, officials say.
The six-car train derailed and then collided with another train between the Takoma Park and Fort Totten stations around 5 p.m. Monday.
The trains are “lodged on top of one another,” D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter says.
Crews are on the scene working to free several people who are trapped in the trains, Etter says.
“We have to make this car stable enough for firefighters to get people out of there,” Etter says.
The train was headed toward the Shady Grove station at the time of the accident, which occurred near the Maryland-D.C. border.
Etter tells WTOP rescue crews are setting up for the “possibility of a mass casualty event.”
All area hospitals have been advised to expect patients, Etter says.
Metro is advising that people avoid the Red Line for the rest of the day.
Trains are operating between Glenmont and Brookland and between Shady Grove and Brookland stations and from Glenmont to Takoma stations for the remainder of the day.
WTOP has a reporter en route to the scene and will have more information as it becomes available.
(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)
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From The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON — Authorities say a six-car train has collided with another train near the Washington and Maryland border, killing at least one person.
D.C. fire spokesman Alan Etter says at least one person was killed and that this is developing into a “mass casualty event.” He says crews are cutting apart the trains to get people out. He says there are severe injuries, but no indication how many.
Spokeswoman Taryn McNeil says the collision happened about 5 p.m. between the Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations on Metro’s red line. The collision happened during rush hour on the transit agency’s busiest rail line.
Officials said it was too early to determine what caused the crash.
Monday’s derailment comes more than two years after a subway train derailed near downtown Washington, sending 20 people to the hospital and prompting the rescue of 60 people from a tunnel.
Copyright © 2009 Associated Press
