Emergency services personnel respond to the scene of a crash involving two passenger trains near the Fisherton Tunnel between Andover and Salisbury, in Wiltshire, late Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)
November 01, 2021 - 8:07 AM
LONDON (AP) — British authorities on Monday were investigating the crash of two passenger trains that left 14 people injured, including a train driver who was seriously hurt.
The rear carriage of a train derailed Sunday after “striking an object” as it approached the station in Salisbury in southern England. Network Rail said the derailment knocked out all the signaling in the area, and a second train from London then crashed into the derailed train.
About 50 firefighters rushed to the scene and some 100 people were evacuated from the scene. Thirteen people were treated for minor injuries in hospital.
British Transport Police said the driver of one of the trains, who had been trapped in his cab after the crash, suffered from “life-changing" injuries, and remained in the hospital in a stable condition.
Passengers and witnesses described hearing sounds like thunder and chaos when the crash happened.
There was “a massive impact, I fell across a table, and the table came off the wall,” Lucy Gregory told Sky News. “They smashed the windows, and we got out ... we're safe now, but it was really scary.”
Resident Tamar Vellacott, who was walking nearby with her children, told reporters that she heard a “long, rumbling sound like thunder hitting the railway line.”
Martin Frobisher, Network Rail’s safety and engineering director, said it was too early to speculate on what caused the crash. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said the government was investing to ensure the British rail network remains “one of the safest in the world.”
Authorities said most of the train lines serving Salisbury remained blocked Monday, and disruptions will continue for the rest of the week.
News from © The Associated Press, 2021