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Train in Portugal Plunges Into River
A locomotive plunged into a river in northern Portugal on Monday after striking a boulder, pulling two passenger cars off the tracks, officials said. The operator was believed killed and five others were injured.
The operator was thought to be inside the locomotive, which was under water in the river, said Carlos Madeira, a spokesman for state rail company Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses.
Footage broadcast on state television RTP showed the front of one carriage dangling over the fast-moving Douro River. A second car was at the top of a steep and muddy slope, while a third car was on the tracks.
The train rammed into an eight-foot-high boulder that had come down in a landslide following heavy rains, Madeira said. The sides of the carriages showed gashes, apparently caused by the boulder.
An assistant driver, two ticket inspectors and two passengers were injured, Madeira said.
The train was carrying between 60 and 70 passengers but most were not injured, rescue worker Manuel Ribeiro told Portugal's RDP radio.
The train, on a regional route between Tua and Oporta in northern Portugal, derailed between the towns of Ermidas and Rede about 180 miles north of Lisbon. The service follows a winding, picturesque route mostly along the Douro wine-growing valley.
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