Disaster Theory

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32214, 5 February 1970, Page 11

Disaster Theory

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 4. Railway investigators in Buenos Aires said today that they were studying the possibility that a psychological lapse brought on by an armed robbery contributed to the cause of the Argentine train disaster that may have killed as many as 236 people.

The police are holding an assistant stationmaster, Mr Maximo Blanco, and a signalman, Mr Bartolme Ayama, tn protective custody after Sunday’s crash in which a speeding express train crashed into the rear of a stationary local passenger train. The two men worked in the station shack at Benavidez, a mile from the scene of the accident and were held up by bandits seven hours before the accident occurred. The bandits got away with 1400 pesos (5357). The investigators say that they fear the shock of the hold-up may have upset the two men, who are accused of having failed to stop the speeding Tucuman express. The exact number of people killed in the crash, one of the worst in railway history, is still not certain. The Minister of Health (Mr Ezequiel Holmberg) said last night that the death toll had reached 236.

At the Pacheco police station, near the scene of the disaster, 100 coffins have been distributed to the families of victims. Bodies mutilated beyond recognition were sent to the mortuary in Buenos Aires.