Runaway train kills three

30th July 2011

An unmanned train slammed into a station house killing two residents and another person standing on a platform in an accident caused by possible human error.

The three died when seven cargo wagons rolled free from a siding at a goods yard two kilometres from the small town of Zwierzyn in western Poland. Without an engine or crew the wagons gathered speed going downhill before derailing and hitting the station and a building housing 10 people with no warning at 10 o’clock at night.

A 55-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman died on the spot as the wagons demolished their flat, which was above the station office. An 18-year-old woman was critically injured on the platform, and despite b ...