Train mows down 12 on crossing

TWELVE young people were killed and 14 others injured in Spain's worst train accident for nearly a decade when they were hit by a high-speed train as they crossed a railway line on their way to a beach festival.

The youths, who were on their way to a party marking the annual Saint John's Day celebration for the start of summer, had just got off a commuter train that arrived in Castelldefels, near Barcelona, shortly before midnight on Wednesday.

About 30 climbed down off the platform and tried to run across the tracks instead of using

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an underpass to leave the station. They were then hit by a long-distance train which was travelling at speed as it was not scheduled to stop at the station on the line between Barcelona and Alicante.

Many of the victims were Latin American immigrants.

Marcelo Cardona, a Bolivian in his 30s who had also got off the commuter train, described the scene as hellish.

He said the partygoers crossed "in a wave" but he held back and waited on the platform.

"The euphoria of getting off the train immediately became screams. There were people screaming, 'my daughter, my sister'," he said. Mr Cardona said he saw "mutilated people, blood everywhere, blood on the platform".

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The final toll was 12 dead and 14 injured, said Nacho Solano, a spokesman for the Catalonia regional government's civil protection department. Three of the injured are in critical condition.

Felipe Elmaji, a 29-year-old Moroccan, said he heard a "thump, thump of the train hitting people."

Mayor Joan Sau said: "If the underpass had been used, we would probably not be talking about this tragedy right now."

He said there was also a pedestrian walkway over the tracks but it was closed, having been replaced by the underpass when the station was renovated late last year.

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Except for a woman in her 40s, all of the dead and injured were under 29, and two were teenagers.

Catalan regional Interior

Minister Joan Saura said police were trying to identify those

who died but because of the nature of the remains added: "It will not be easy and it will not be fast".

Chairman of state railway company RENFE Teofilo Serrano said he was "almost certain" the long-distance train was not exceeding the speed limit as it went through the station and said an investigation was underway.

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Spain's public works minister Jose Blanco was cutting short his visit to Luxembourg to go to the scene and urged an investigation as soon as possible.

St. John's Day, June 24, is a public holiday in many parts of Spain and bonfire celebrations traditionally begin the night before.

It is celebrated in much of Spain but with particular zeal in Catalonia. People light bonfires in town squares and on beaches, dancing around them and even jumping over them, and set off fireworks.

"Last night, Noche de San

Juan, which is normally a

night of festivity in Catalonia, turned tragic," the Catalan regional president, Jose Montilla, said as he visited the accident scene.

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He declared a day of mourning throughout the region. Flags flew at half-mast at town hall in Castelldefels.

After officials worked through the night gathering the remains, crews yesterday hosed down the bloodied train tracks.

It was Spain's deadliest train accident since 2003, when 19 people died in a collision between a passenger service and a freight train.

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