LONDON (AP) 鈥� Nine people were in critical condition on Saturday after a in central England the night before killed the driver of one of the locomotives, police said.
British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said more than 80 people were treated in hospitals after the crash late Friday afternoon, and 28 remained hospitalized a day later.
Buckingham Palace said King Charles III 鈥渋s greatly saddened鈥� by the crash. It said 鈥渉is thoughts and sympathies are with the family of the deceased and with all those injured or affected by such a tragic incident.”
Police and accident investigators are working to understand why a commuter train bound for London鈥檚 St. Pancras Station slammed into the back of another train headed for the same destination on Friday afternoon.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed dozens of people, some with bandages but also many who appeared uninjured, standing and sitting among emergency vehicles parked on a road parallel to the train tracks.
Peter Knapp, one of the passengers, described being thrown forward by the impact, then seeing fellow travelers with broken bones and bloody injuries.
鈥淧eople were crying, screaming. People were so scared and confused,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 got up and I saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs.鈥�
Another passenger, Brett Byatt, told the BBC that only 鈥渢hree to four of us were uninjured in a full carriage.
鈥淓veryone else had either a serious wound that was bleeding profusely, or a situation where they couldn鈥檛 stand, or couldn鈥檛 move their neck, or I saw a woman鈥檚 snapped leg,鈥� he said.
In recent years Britain鈥檚 railways have had one of the world鈥檚 best safety records. One passenger was killed in a collision between two trains in Wales in October 2024. That was Britain鈥檚 first fatal crash involving multiple trains for more than a quarter of a century.
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