One dead, 76 injured in Cuban train derailment
Saturday, May 29, 2004
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): At least one person was
killed and another 78 were injured when a train packed with about 1,000
students jumped the tracks outside the Cuban capital, witnesses said.
The accident took place around 1300 GMT as the engine derailed in the Jamaica
district of San Jose de las Lajas, southeast of Havana, they said.
One of the conductors was killed and 76 young people were being treated in
local hospitals and clinics, officials said.
The engine and the first carriage were the most seriously damaged as they
derailed. Most of Cuba's secondary schooling
is in boarding schools located in rural areas, so students are transported
back and forth to their homes on buses and trains when they have school
breaks, particularly just before weekends.
Last January three people were killed and 30 injured when a huge bus crossed a
train track just outside Havana just as two trains were approaching in
opposite directions. There was no immediate
government report on the latest accident.
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