Guasava railway accident
In the Guasave railway accident on August 4, 9 or 10, 1989, a passenger train fell off a bridge near Guasave , in the state of Sinaloa , Mexico . 112 people died.
Starting position
The passenger train , nicknamed “El Burro” (“the donkey”), was on its way from Mazatlan , which it had left at 7.45pm the previous day, to Mexicali . It consisted of a locomotive and 11 cars , in which there were about 360 travelers . At Guasave, the railway line crosses the San Rafael River over a bridge.
In the six hours before the accident , the heaviest precipitation in 50 years had occurred. They brought an amount of rain of about 50 liters per square meter.
the accident
After the heavy rains a dam had overflowed and the resulting tidal wave had washed away the foundations of the railway bridge. When the train hit her around 4:00 a.m., she collapsed under its weight. Part of the train fell into the river from a height of about 8 meters.
consequences
112 people died, most drowned, and 205 others were injured.
literature
- Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on the rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 , p. 221.
Web links
- NN: Toll in Mexican Train Disaster Rises to at Least 112 . In: New York Times v. August 11, 1989 after a report by Agence France-Presse
- NN: Train crash deaths at 112 . In: The Gainesville Sun v. Sept. 11, 1989, p. 11A.
- NN: Train falls of bridge, killing 85 . In: The Register-Guard, v. September 10, 1989, p. 3A. [With widely differing information on the location of the accident and the number of victims].
- NN: The world's worst train accidents . In: Rhein-Zeitung .
- Reuters: Worst rail disasters in North America .
Remarks
- ↑ So: NN: Great .
- ↑ So: NN: The world's worst train accidents .
- ^ So: Semmens; Reuters: Worst rail disasters .
- ↑ NN: The world's worst train accidents , names 104 dead.
- ↑ NN: Train falls of bridge calls the river Rio Bamoa , Semmens calls it both Rio Bamoa and San Rafael de Barmoa .
- ↑ Semmens gives the number of 630 injured.