Six killed as Washington DC metro trains collide

At least six people died and 70 were injured, some seriously, in a train crash in the Washington DC metro last night.

The accident happened when two trains, both moving in the same direction, collided. One of the trains had stopped, waiting for another train ahead to move out of a station when the second train rammed into its rear end.

The second train rose up and over the front train's final carriage. The woman driver of the rear train died, along with three passengers.

"Obviously something went terribly wrong for two trains to be on the same track," a Metro spokeswoman said.

The DC Metro prides itself on its efficiency and relatively good safety record. Last night's crash was between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations in north-east Washington, near the border between the District of Columbia and Maryland.

There has only been one other case of deaths of passengers in the 33 years of the Metro, in January 1982, when three people died in a derailment beneath downtown Washington DC.

Last night's accident occurred at about 5pm local time on the Metro's Red Line, which is its busiest. The fact that it was at rush hour increased the challenge for emergency workers. They brought in heavy equipment to cut open the wrecked carriages.

An eyewitness, D'Ana Williams, who lives next to the Takoma Metro station told the Washington Times she had heard the crash. She said it sounded like "two dump trucks colliding into each other, like they dumped a load."

Jodie Wickett, a nurse travelling on one of the trains, told CNN she was sending text messages on her phone when she felt the impact. "From that point on, it happened so fast, I flew out of the seat and hit my head."

Officials said it was too early to determine what caused the crash.

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