Time 4:00 a.m Country Chile Type of incident rear collision Total number of deaths 23 Trains 2 | Location Santiago Rail line Santiago - Cartagena Date 14 February 1956 Injuries 198 | |
Cause Signal passed at danger Operator Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado | ||
The 1956 Santiago rail crash occurred on February 14, 1956, at 4:00 a.m. near the Chilean capital Santiago on the branch to Cartagena and killed 23 people.
Two trains left the capital twelve minutes apart. Seven kilometres into their journeys, the second train ran into the back of the first; destroying a wooden, third-class carriage. 23 people were killed and 198 injured. President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo ordered an immediate enquiry; the driver of the rear train was found to be at fault.
The accident happened just seven months after a very similar accident at San Bernardo twenty kilometers south of the city killed 38 people.
References
1956 Santiago rail crash Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA