Accidente ferroviario en Japón

A train crash in Japan has killed 50 people and injured more than 300. The accident occurred just after nine o'clock in the morning in the suburb of Japan's second largest city Osaka. This was the worst accident on Japan's railway network for more than forty years.

This report from Jonathan Head:

Hours after the accident rescue workers were still crawling over the appallingly mangled wreckage trying to cut free trapped passengers. Survivors say the train was travelling at speed and had started to shake before the front three carriages derailed and slammed into an apartment block.

The accident occurred towards the end of the morning rush hour in a suburb of Osaka, and the train was crowded with nearly 600 people on board. Japan's well rehearsed emergency services were called into action, erecting special medical tents alongside the crash site within minutes.

But the death toll rose quickly through the morning. Accident investigators are questioning passengers and the train's conductor to try to find out the cause of the crash. The driver who was badly injured remained inside the wreckage long afterwards.

It is the worst accident in more than four decades on Japan's railway network, which is among the world's safest and busiest, carrying an estimated 60 million people every day.

Jonathan Head, BBC News, Tokyo

crawling over
arrastraban sobre

mangled wreckage
partes destrozadas

to cut free
En este caso, para sacar a los pasajeros

slammed into
chocaron violentamente

rush hour
hora punta

into action
En este caso, realizar un operativo de emergencia

crash site
lugar del accidente

death toll
número de muertos

returns
ganancias

railway network
sistema ferroviario