U.S. capital shocked by deadly subway train collision

WASHINGTON, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Against the light darkness of twilight, the wrecks of two crashed light-rail trains stood still on an elevated track as rescuers cut through the cars to pull survivors out

"I thought it was a thunder, but then I heard some screamings and saw corpses," Timbly Brown who lives across the street on a small slope in northeastern Washington.

Apparently, a transit train smashed into the rear of another at the height of the capital city's Monday evening rush hour. Several cars of the first train ended up on top of the other train.

Walking around the tragic site, Mayor of Washington DC Adrian Fenty told reporters that accident is the "deadliest crash in the 33-year history of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, known as Metro.

The latest figure show at least six people were killed and 76 others injured, among them six in critical conditions.

"The scene is as horrific as you can imagine," Fenty said, "One car was almost squeezed completely together."

He told Xinhua that there will be more press conferences and briefings to keep the public updated about what happened.

The accident took place just before 5 p.m. eastern time (2100 GMT), on an above-ground light-rail track on the Metro system's Red Line near the border with Takoma Park, Maryland, not far from the Fort Totten Station.

At the time, both trains were on the same track, and one of them was stationary when the crash happened, said John Catoe, the Metro Authority's general manager.

The impact was so severe that rescuers had to cut through the trains to get people out from the wreckage. The Metro Red Line has ceased operation for at least Monday night.

Officials suspect there may be other corpses trapped inside the wrecks so the final death tally will probably grow.

But they said they do not know the cause of the collision yet and are not likely to know the cause for days as the investigation unfolds.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it will take part in the investigation and FBI agents were at the scene Preliminary investigations by the Department of Homeland Security show there was no indication of anything other than an accidental collision, though more details need to be sorted out.

It was the second Metro crash that involves fatalities in the 33-year history of the transit authority.

In January 1982, a derailment killed three people. The only other collision between Metro trains occurred in 2004.

"We are extremely saddened that there are fatalities as a result of this accident, which has touched our Metro family," the Metro Authority said in a statement.

"Our safety officials are investigating, and will continue to investigate until we determine why this happened and what must be done to ensure it never happens again."