(Santiago de Chile) A head-on collision between two trains early Thursday morning in the suburbs of Santiago left two people dead and nine injured, including four Chinese nationals, Chilean railway company Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE) announced.
The collision occurred between a train in the testing phase, without passengers, of the national company and a freight train of the Fepasa company.
“We regret to announce the death of two employees of the freight train,” EFE said in a statement.
The collision also left nine people injured, including four Chinese nationals who were on board the EFE company train to carry out speed tests. All were taken to a local hospital.
The two trains collided on the main railway line between Puente Maipo and Nos, in the town of San Bernardo, on the outskirts of Santiago.
“For unknown reasons,” the train in the testing phase “was not warned that the freight train was arriving north,” prosecutor Pedro Aravena explained to local media.