Eight people were seriously injured as they fell off a car of the San Martin train line as it crossed over Pacífico Bridge in Palermo, over the intersection of Juan B Justo and Santa Fe avenues. Doctors had to amputate a leg to one of the injured.
The accident occurred when the train was going from Retiro to Pilar, and the injured were seven men, one with an exposed fracture, and a woman.
Police sources said that the passengers were travelling in the supports of the carriages, and when they reached the bridge, some people crashed against it.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Management Unit for Rail Emergencies (UGOFE), Eduardo Montenegro, stated that the injured had hit the bridge as they were trying to get off the carriage.
“We were travelling through a different railway in that area due to a technical fail, that’s why the passengers were hit by the bridge of Figueroa Alcorta street, we believe that it happened as they tried to go to the station,” Montenegro added.
National Transport Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi also said that the accident was due to an “imprudent” action of that group of people “who usually travel in the trains’ supports” and one of them “crashed against the platform,” and it led to a “domino effect” that ended up with other people falling.
Some of the passengers fell out of the train, while others fell inside the carriage, but were also injured. Other passengers were able to notify the train authorities, who ordered to suspend the service and called the SAME emergency medical assistance system to assist the injured.
Almost 20 ambulances and a medical chopper assisted in the accident site. One of the injured had an exposed fracture and a massive hemorrhage that had to be immediately transferred to the Pirovano hospital, where doctors had to amputate his leg.
Meanwhile, the rest of the injured were transferred to the Fernández and Rivadavia hospital.
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