Washington DC:
At least four people were killed on Monday in a rush-hour collision between two Metro transit trains in northeast Washington DC.
A number of other passengers were severely injured, said a District of Columbia fire spokesman, in what he described as a "mass casualty event."
The fire service said crews had to cut apart the trains to get people out.
Rescue workers propped steel ladders up to the upper train cars to help survivors escape. Seats from the smashed cars had spilled out onto the track.
The collision took place at the height of the city's rush hour - on the Metro system's red line near the Washington-Maryland border.
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said four were dead and scores were hurt.
Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said rescue workers had treated 70 people at the scene and sent some to local hospitals.
A Metro spokeswoman said the dead included the female operator of one of the trains. Her name was not immediately released.
Officials said it was too early to determine what caused one train to slam into the other.
A Metro general manager said at least 60 people had been taken off the trains.
An electronic message board run by the District of Columbia government said both the Green Line and Red Line were affected by the collision.
Both lines serve Maryland suburbs north and east of Washington.
The only other time in Metrorail's 33-year history that there were passenger fatalities was in January 1982, when three people died as a result of a derailment between the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian Metro stations underneath downtown.
A number of other passengers were severely injured, said a District of Columbia fire spokesman, in what he described as a "mass casualty event."
The fire service said crews had to cut apart the trains to get people out.
Rescue workers propped steel ladders up to the upper train cars to help survivors escape. Seats from the smashed cars had spilled out onto the track.
The collision took place at the height of the city's rush hour - on the Metro system's red line near the Washington-Maryland border.
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said four were dead and scores were hurt.
Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said rescue workers had treated 70 people at the scene and sent some to local hospitals.
A Metro spokeswoman said the dead included the female operator of one of the trains. Her name was not immediately released.
Officials said it was too early to determine what caused one train to slam into the other.
A Metro general manager said at least 60 people had been taken off the trains.
An electronic message board run by the District of Columbia government said both the Green Line and Red Line were affected by the collision.
Both lines serve Maryland suburbs north and east of Washington.
The only other time in Metrorail's 33-year history that there were passenger fatalities was in January 1982, when three people died as a result of a derailment between the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian Metro stations underneath downtown.
