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16 killed as
trains crash
head-on
near Paris
PARIS: Sixteen people were killed
when the Nice-Paris sleeper express and
a goods train collided near Paris yester
day, railway officials said.
A fireman said 57 people had been
injured, 11 seriously, in the head-on
crash at 6.30am (3.30pm AEST) at Me
lun station, south of Paris.
The wrecked express usually carries
about 2000 passengers.
"We have a passenger coach standing
on top of a goods carriage," he told a
radio interviewer.
Witnesses said some carriages jack
knifed and broke powerlines 6m above
the track. All the carriages of the express
were derailed.
A railway employee at Melun said the
sleeper train was travelling at 120 km/h
when it collided with the 40 km/h goods
train.
"They just smashed into each other.
Three carriages went up into the power
lines," he said.
One commuter, in a stationary train
at the station, said the goods train ap
peared not to be on the usual track.
"We saw it drive past. Then there was
a flash," she said.
An unconfirmed report said the driv
ers of both trains were killed.
Police blocked traffic as dozens of
ambulances shuttled between the sta
tion and hospitals. The Transport Min
ister, Paul Quiles, rushed to the scene.
France's worst recent railway acci
dent was three years ago when two
trains collided at Paris's Gare de Lyon
station and 56 people were killed.
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