1956 Santiago rail crash
Details
DateFebruary 14, 1956
8:12 a.m
LocationSantiago
CountryChile
LineSantiago - Cartagena
OperatorEmpresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado
Incident typerear collision
CauseSignal passed at danger
Statistics
Trains2
Deaths23
Injured198

The 1956 Santiago rail crash occurred on February 14, 1956, at 8:12 a.m. near the Chilean capital Santiago on the branch to Cartagena and killed 23 people.[1]

Two trains left the capital twelve minutes apart. Seven kilometres into their journeys, the second train ran into the back of the first; destroying a wooden, third-class carriage. Twenty-three people were killed and 198 injured. President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo ordered an immediate enquiry; the driver of the rear train was found to be at fault.

The accident happened just seven months after a very similar accident at San Bernardo twenty kilometers south of the city killed 38 people.

Ghost train sightings

Several years after the accident, several Maipú residents started to report hearing what sounds like a train horn, which seems to come from the track nearby Avenida 5 de Abril, Most of them said that when they go outside, there is nothing. this train horn seems to be loud, as residents from other communes like Lo Espejo, Pudahuel, Quinta Normal and even Santiago Centro reported hearing the same noise. Many believe it's the souls of those who passed on the accident, trying to reach Cartagena to end their travesy (pass on to peace).

Sources

References

  1. ↑ "19 muertos en catástrofe ferroviaria de Cerrillos" (PDF). La Nación (in Spanish). 15 February 1956. p. 1. Retrieved 9 August 2023.

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