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Philippine rail cars crash into ravine, 100 trapped
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-12 11:04

Rescuers in the Philippines smashed train windows with axes and hammers on Friday to reach 100 passengers trapped when a carriage derailed and dragged other cars into a ravine, killing at least four people.

Police and Philippine National Railways officials said it was too early to pinpoint the cause but track and fittings in the area had been stolen in the past and sold as scrap metal.

Philippine Air Force rescuers retrieve victims of a government owned Philippine National Railways train which fell into a ravine after it was derailed November 12, 2004 in Padre Burgos town in Quezon province south of Manila. At least 10 people died and hundreds of passengers were injured in the accident. [Reuters]

Many of the 312 people on board were pulled from the wreckage of the early morning accident and rescuers were focusing on the crowded last car. At least 80 people were injured.

"There are still people down there. We're trying to get them out," the police officer directing rescue operations told a radio station from the scene.

A conductor on the train, Melquiades del Pillar, said there were about 150 people in the fan-cooled economy carriage, which shuddered when the train rounded a bend.

Rescuers search for victims of the government owned Philippine National Railways train which fell into a ravine after it was derailed November 12, 2004 in Padre Burgos town in Quezon province south of Manila. [Reuters]

"It was very quick. I felt like we were being pulled over," del Pillar said on radio.

The train was travelling overnight from Naga City in the Bicol region to Manila, some 300 km (185 miles) to the northwest.

Disaster officials said the first report of the accident near Padre Burgos town came at about 3:30 a.m. (1930 GMT on Thursday).

Police said five of the train's eight cars had derailed and tumbled about 40 feet (10 metres) into a ravine that was at least 100 feet deep. The back half of the train was for passengers and the front for cargo.

Villagers, police and soldiers used ropes to reach the wreckage and any tools at hand to try to free those trapped inside. Philippine National Railways said it was sending a train with cranes to lift the damaged carriages.

Police commandeered vehicles to rush the wounded to hospital in Lucena, while other passengers waited for a relief train being sent from Manila.

Rail disasters are relatively uncommon in the Philippines, but shantytown dwellers are frequently killed by passing trains.

"We have sent teams to inspect the tracks to see if there are missing parts because there were instances of theft in that area," a Philippine National Railways engineer said on radio.

The company recently bought second-hand coaches from Japan to modernise its stock of passenger cars.

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