British officials probe ‘suicide by train’

UFTON NERVET, – Investigators combed the tangled wreckage of an express train in southern England on Sunday and yesterday, after it slammed into a car at a level crossing on Saturday, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 100.

An off-duty police officer discovered the lone car stopped on a rural crossing west of Reading on Saturday evening, unmoving even as safety barriers came down around it, and within moments it was hit by a First Great Western train speeding from London to Plymouth, southwest England. Authorities refused to comment on whether it was a suicide turned collective tragedy.One half of the car, which was sliced in two by the impact of the train, lay crumpled next to the crossing like a mangled tin can, its paint, windows and any identifying markers totally obliterated.The remains of the train carriages were catapulted hundreds of metre up the line, and were flipped on their sides or leaned at a 45-degree angle, jackknifed across the tracks.It was the worst accident on Britain’s privatised railways since May 2002 when seven people were killed when a passenger train derailed at Potters Bar, north of London.Britain’s all-time worst train crash was in May 1915 when a wooden troop train and a passenger train collided at Gretna Green between England and Scotland, killing 227 people.- Nampa-AFPAuthorities refused to comment on whether it was a suicide turned collective tragedy.One half of the car, which was sliced in two by the impact of the train, lay crumpled next to the crossing like a mangled tin can, its paint, windows and any identifying markers totally obliterated.The remains of the train carriages were catapulted hundreds of metre up the line, and were flipped on their sides or leaned at a 45-degree angle, jackknifed across the tracks.It was the worst accident on Britain’s privatised railways since May 2002 when seven people were killed when a passenger train derailed at Potters Bar, north of London.Britain’s all-time worst train crash was in May 1915 when a wooden troop train and a passenger train collided at Gretna Green between England and Scotland, killing 227 people.- Nampa-AFP