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Emergency crew respond to the scene of a train derailment in Santiago de Compostela. (AP Photo/ El correo Gallego/Antonio Hernandez)

77 dead in Spanish train crash, 140 injured

Four carriages overturned in the smash, as bodies were lain out under blankets along the tracks.

A TRAIN HURTLED off the tracks in northwest Spain killing at least 77 passengers and injuring more than 140, an official said Thursday.

Four carriages overturned in the smash late Wednesday, smoke billowing from the wreckage, as bodies were lain out under blankets along the tracks.

The wagons piled into each other and folded up like an accordion. One was ripped apart by the force of the crash, one of its ends pushed up into the air.

Several witnesses spoke of a loud explosion.

“I was at home and I heard something like a clap of thunder, It was very loud and there was lots of smoke,” said 62-year-old Maria Teresa Ramos, who lived just metres from where the accident happened.

The accident happened at 8.42pm as the train carrying 218 passengers and four staff was about to enter Santiago de Compostela station in the northwestern region of Galicia.

Rescue workers recovered 73 bodies from the train’s wreckage and four more victims died later in hospital, said a spokesman for the Galicia high court, increasing an earlier toll figure.

A total of 143 people were said to have various injuries.

Francisco Otero, 39, who was inside his parents’ home just beside the section of the track where the accident happened, said he “heard a huge bang. As if there had been an earthquake.”

“The first thing I saw was the body of a woman. I had never seen a corpse before. But above all what caught my attention was that there was a lot of silence, some smoke and a small fire,” he said.

“My neighbours tried to pull out people who were trapped inside the carriages with the help of pickaxes and sledgehammers and they eventually got them out with a hand saw. It was unreal.”

The train had left Madrid and was heading for the town of Ferrol as the Galicia region was preparing celebrations in honour of its patron saint James.

- AFP, 2013

Read: Bus and truck collide on busy Thai highway, killing 19>

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    Mute Martin Flood
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 12:08 PM

    Garden looks a bit naff.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 12:23 PM

    It does, it’s disappointing to look at. Bland, vacant & overlooked, it’s exposed and seems to lack seating and focus.

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    Mute Mark Kenny
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 12:30 PM

    Yes I agree it’s overlooked to look at

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    Mute Joseph Siddall
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 12:46 PM

    Fiona, courtyard gardens, indeed courtyards, do tend to be overlooked. Pretty much unavoidable. Just what a private outdoor pool is for, in a New York winter, is another matter. Oh, of course, a demonstration of wealth.

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    Mute Paul Doyle
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 12:53 PM

    Their not safe from the paparazzi drones on that balcony haha

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    Mute scoop delivery
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 2:19 PM

    @Joseph Siddall: Have to seen a new york summer ? you would be crying for the swimming pool.

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    Mute Mike Dowling
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 1:32 PM

    A news article about a “paparazzi proof building”. Does anyone see the ironry in this ?

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    Mute Dave McCrea
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    Jan 23rd 2017, 1:57 AM

    @Mike Dowling: haha true, it even lists the street address

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    Mute Leitrim303
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 12:55 PM

    best bit is the carpark

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    Mute Eugene Walsh
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 12:49 PM

    That graden looks asylum ish. What a sterile block of sterility

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    Mute saoirse janneau
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 5:15 PM

    Its a great location. Near the river and overlooking ellis island. No skyscrapers in greenwich so i bet some of those penthouses have spectacular views and river breezes. Wow. A stones throw from east village too. Manhatten is crazy now. Min price anywhere is 1 million dollars.

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    Mute gregory
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    Jan 22nd 2017, 7:06 PM

    Disgusting how unequal society that is. Just fat cat Wall St. Dudes and Gals can afford that but it’s not right

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