Driver of bus blamed in collision with train that left 29 dead, 75 injured

Driver of bus blamed in collision with train that left 29 dead, 75 injured
The Associated Press
Published: October 14, 2007

HAVANA: Cuban authorities arrested the driver of a bus that collided
with a train, an accident that killed 29 people and injured 75 others,
after determining he stopped his vehicle on the tracks as the locomotive
approached, state media said Sunday.

Cuba's official National Information Agency reported that a commission
of transportation experts determined that bus driver Manuel Taurino
Chavez Pena stopped the bus on the tracks for unknown reasons around
midday Oct. 6 shortly before it was slammed by the locomotive.

The report said Chavez Pena was detained and "awaiting the correspondent
legal process," but did not mention whether or how seriously he was injured.

Twenty-seven of the injured remained hospitalized over the weekend,
including two in critical condition, the agency report said.

Transportation Minister Jorge Luis Sierra said that authorities are
studying ways to improve security at railroad crossings, including
placement of protective guards at all of them.
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The accident occurred at a railroad crossing near a bridge in Yara
municipality in the province of Granma, about 800 kilometers (about 500
miles) east of Havana.

The Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported Sunday that the
train signaled its approach as required, but was unable to stop in time
to avoid the bus, which was dragged to the bridge, where it fell.

Juventud Rebelde said 57 people were killed in a similar collision
between a bus and a train in the eastern province of Holguin in 1997.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/14/news/CB-GEN-Cuba-Train-Accident.php