Quiet commuter town turned into scene of horror in Japan

Rescue personnel work at the train crash site in Amagasaki, Hyogo prefecture Monday, where at least 50 people were killed when the commuter train derailed and smashed into an apartment building. Speeding was the most likely cause of Japan's worst train accident in four decades, although officials said they were still looking at other potential triggers. PHOTO: AFP

The blue-stripped carriage lay wrapped around the edge of a nine-floor apartment building like a discarded sheet of plastic.

Two other railway carriages were lodged underneath and against it as rescuers scurried around trying frantically to respond to cries for help.

Dozens of workers brought out ladders to climb on top of the debris and sift through the metal and glass in a race against time to find people still alive.

Survivors, ranging from businesspeople with bloodied white shirts to school students with broken limbs, waited patiently on a blue sheet spread on the ground before they were taken on stretchers to hospital.

Amagasaki, a town of factory chimneys and commuter homes, on Monday became a scene of horror.

At least 50 people were killed in one of the worst train crashes ever in Japan, which has enjoyed a high reputation for safety of the rail network which is a daily lifeline for nearly half the population.

"I was just scared and could not move," said Etsuko Murakami, a 64-year-old housewife, who was in the second carriage and broke her left leg.

"I thought I was going to die," a trembling Murakami said in a wheelchair at the hospital, wearing a brown sweater stained with blood. "That was the most fearful moment in my life."

Some of the survivors were still unconscious as they were taken away by rescue teams.

"Passengers standing there were thrown away and passengers sitting on the seats were slammed onto the floor," said Tsuneo Hara, who injured his right leg after he experienced the crash in the third carriage.

"It was just a chaos. Some 10 people could not stand up and lying on the floor without moving. Female passengers were just screaming and crying," said Hara, an advertising company worker in his 50s.