Aracaju train crash
Details
DateMarch 20, 1946
LocationAracaju
CountryBrazil
OperatorVFF Leste Brasileiro[1]
Incident typeDerailment
Statistics
Trains1
Passengers1000
Deaths185
Injured300

The Aracaju train crash, which occurred on March 20, 1946, is the worst ever rail disaster in Brazil; resulting in the deaths of 185 people[2] and 300 injured.[3] The accident happened near Aracaju, capital of the coastal state of Sergipe, 800 miles (1,287 km) northeast of Rio de Janeiro.[2]

The train concerned was a suburban service operating between Aracaju and Capela, Sergipe,[4] and carrying about one thousand passengers.[2] The locomotive, baggage car and three passenger cars[5] were derailed whilst descending a steep incline near Aracaju,[2] most of the dead being "smashed within the cars", "Many bodies were mutilated so badly that identification was impossible".[5]

Grief-stricken relatives came to the scene and nearly lynched the surviving locomotive engineer who, depending on the source, either took refuge in a police station[3] or fled the area later to surrender in the town of Laranjeiras, Sergipe.[2] The train conductors also fled.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "São Cristóvão". Estações Ferroviárias.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Haine, Edgar A. (1993). Railway Wrecks. pp. 145–146. ISBN 0-8453-4844-2.
  3. 1 2 "Lynch Threat by Train Crowd". The Sydney Morning Herald. March 22, 1946.
  4. ↑ The San Mateo Times. California. March 21, 1946. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. 1 2 3 "Daily Kennebec Journal Archives, Mar 21, 1946, p. 1". NewspaperArchive.com. 1946-03-21. Retrieved 2020-12-29.

10°48′46″S 37°09′50″W / 10.81278°S 37.16389°W / -10.81278; -37.16389

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