12 KILLED AS AMTRAK TRAIN CRASHES AT SILVER SPRING

TWELVE people were killed and 23 injured when an Amtrak train smashed head-on into a stopped suburban Washington rush-hour commuter train at Silver Spring, Maryland, on Friday. All those killed were on the commuter train, a local fire official said. The Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) train had stopped at a signal at 5.30pm (10.30pm GMT) when it was rammed by the Amtrak train.

Moments before the impact, conductors ran through the cars of the MARC train, shouting to passengers that a crash was imminent and they should get on the floor, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

Photograph by REUTER