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British Train Crash Toll of 13 May Rise: Police
British Train Crash Toll of 13 May Rise: Police
British police said on Thursday they could not rule out finding more bodies in the wreckage of Wednesday's breakfast express train crash that killed at least 13 people and injured 75.
They said the final death toll would not be clear until later on Thursday when heavy lifting cranes were able to move carriages crushed in the crash near the village of Great Heck, about 160 miles north of London.
"Until the heavy vehicle equipment moves some of the carriages we can't be sure there are not more bodies. We can't rule that out," Inspector Philip Trendal of British Transport Police told Reuters.
The tangled wreck of twisted metal and carriages on their sides beside tracks in a northern England field marked the fourth fatal British rail crash in as many years but this time the cause appeared to be a freak road accident.
Investigations zeroed in on how a Land Rover, towing a trailer with an empty car on it, careered onto a railway track from a motorway and into the path of a passenger express train from Newcastle to London. A heavily laden coal train then smashed into the crash site.
The driver of the Land Rover was questioned by police, including homicide officers, throughout Wednesday. British newspapers suggested a tireblow out caused the Land Rover to go out of control.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who is also transport minister, said 13 people, including the drivers of the two trains, were killed and 75 people were injured.
Trendal said the search for bodies had been suspended until rescuers were able to get into the carriages safely. Five bodies have already been recovered.
Engineers were clearing a path for heavy lifting equipment to reach the crash site. "It's a very large job. The actual lifting will take some time," Trendal said.
Emergency workers struggled to free trapped passengers for hours after the early morning accident.
Transport police said they believed they had rescued all of the survivors.
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