At least 80 injured in Buenos Aires train crash

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At least 80 injured in Buenos Aires train crash

(Xinhua) 09:46, October 20, 2013

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Policemen and firemen work after a train from the Sarmiento line crashed at the Once Station, in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, on Oct. 19, 2013. A spokesman of the Sarmiento line informed at least 40 people were hurt, five seriously, in the train crash registered early Saturday at the Once Station in Buenos Aires. (Xinhua/Enrique Cabrera/TELAM)

At least 80 people were injured in a train crash at a Buenos Aires commuter rail station on Saturday, the government said.

Florencio Randazzo, minister of Interior and Transportation, said at a press conference that 80 people have been treated and that only eight remained "under observation" after a Sarmiento Line train hit containment fences at Once station in the Balvanera neighborhood at 7:35 a.m. local time.

"None of them was seriously injured," he was quoted by the official news agency as saying.

The station was closed from about 8:00 a.m. local time as rescue personnel and police sifted through the wreckage.

Security Secretary of Argentina Sergio Berni said no fatalities had been recorded so far.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but early reports indicated the train had trouble braking when it hit the fence, Berni said.

"The driver is in police detention," Berni said, adding that "a police is injured by a train's splinter."

"We are going to search within the trains to verify if there is any victim," he said.

Alberto Crescenti, director of Emergency Medical Attention System, said that "80 ambulances, two helicopters and two disaster special-units" took part in the rescue.

In the train history of Argentina, numerous accidents have occurred, especially in the recent years. A similar crash at the same rail stop killed 51 people on Feb. 22 last year.

（Editor：DuMingming、Chen Lidan）