Crowded Train Crashes Near London; 6 Die

Six people were killed Friday and as many as 170 injured, 13 seriously, when a packed express train plowed into an empty freight train in the western suburbs of London.

The engineer of the passenger train was later arrested and taken in for questioning, British Transport police said. The other engineer was released.

The train caught fire, but fire services said they extinguished the blaze quickly. Helicopter ambulances brought in doctors and ferried the worst injured to four nearby hospitals.

“It’s a scene of utter chaos here at the moment,” said BBC reporter Mark Cole, a passenger on the high-speed train from Swansea, Wales, to London. He said the train had suddenly appeared to pick up speed just before the crash.

“Within seconds the train had left the track, glass was flying through the windows, the carriage I was in veered off [the rails] and it caught fire,” he said. “There was smoke everywhere.”

Witness Tony Mair, who helped rescue 15 passengers, said: “The first carriage landed on its side. Carriages 2 and 3 were totally devastated. It was a terrible scene.”

Passengers said they had had to wait for as long as 10 minutes in rail cars filled with dark, acrid smoke before the doors of the train, which had automatically locked, could be opened.

A local resident who rushed to the scene described Japanese tourists wandering along the track in a state of shock.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott demanded a rapid report explaining the crash.

“In the meantime, if there are any immediate lessons to be learned, we will of course take the appropriate action,” said Prescott, who is also Britain’s transport minister.

Railroad officials said the freight train was being shunted into a yard when it was hit by the express. The freight train driver was not hurt.