41 Die When Train Rammed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30630, 22 December 1964, Page 17

41 Die When Train Rammed

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

VILLAHERMOSA (Mexico), Dec. 21.

A goods train smashed into a passenger train near Villahermosa yesterday, killing 41 persons and injuring 75.

The accident occurred at Tacotalpa, a small mountain village, 45 miles south of this capital city of the State of Tabasco, in south-east Mexico.

A dense fog covered the area at the time.

The passenger train had left Tenosique, in Tabasco, yesterday afternoon, and was on its way to Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz. It had halted for a 10-minute routine stop in Tacotalpa when the goods train travelling about 50 miles an hour rammed into the rear. A member of the goods train crew said the driver was apparently dozing and unaware of the train on the main track until the last moment. The driver fled from the scene of the accident.

Thirty-six mangled bodies were taken from the twisted mass of the passenger cars. Six more died on their way to hospital. An American tourist lost both of his arms in the accident and was in a critical condition. Cattle Survived

Only the passenger part of the train was affected. Fifteen trucks loaded with cattle at the front of the passenger train remained on the track. All of the cattle survived. The ramming goods train also suffered only minor damage. No casualties were reported among its crew. Twenty-eight of the injured

passengers were reported to be in critical condition. The gruesome task of identifying the mangled bodies still was under way late on Sunday night. Governor Carlos A. Madrazo, of the state of Tabasco, made an appeal through the radio asking for doctors, nurses and ambulances to take care of the injured.