Train derails in Scotland

Shortly before 9pm on Sunday a train travelling from Glasgow to Oban derailed and caught fire on a stretch close to Loch Awe in Argyll, leaving eight people injured, crash investigators are today trying to establish how it happened.

One of the carriages was left ‘precariously balanced’ after the accident and passengers reported seeing ‘balls of flame’ inside the carriage, 60 people were rescued by emergency services, with reports of no serious injuries. Later the ambulance service confirmed that eight people were taken to three different hospitals, where it’s thought none of their injuries were life threatening.

Currently Network Rail engineers are at the site to secure the train, British Transport Police (BTP) believes at this stage there is nothing to suggest any criminality and they said “There are a few big boulders lying about on the railway line. Early indications are it’s probably been a landslide but investigations are under way. There are a number of officers on scene from British Transport Police and Strathclyde Police.”

According to BTP the leading car of the two-car train had derailed and caught fire, and was hanging over the A85 road.

A passenger on the train, Paul Gibson said, “It felt like it was a few minutes or so, but it must have been only about 20 seconds. Bags and shelves seemed to sort of start flying across the carriage. And then all of a sudden, on either side of us, on the outside, big balls of flame managed to come across us.”

UK News