Moscow Metro crash: 19 passengers killed and over 150 injured after underground commuter train derailsAt least 19 are dead and 150 injured following the collision when a train stopped due to a power surge
At least 19 people have been killed and more than 150 injured in a horrific underground train crash.A power surge is believed to have brought a commuter train on the Moscow Metro to an abrupt halt after an emergency alarm and braking system were set off.
Among the dead was driver Sergey Osipov and some reports suggest that a third of those hospitalised are fighting for their lives.
Up to five were still trapped underground as a massive rescue operation was mounted.
Three carriages came off the rails in a tunnel between the Molodezhnaya and Slavyansky Bulvar stations after the technical glitch.
Some 300 people were led off the train in the west of the capital.
"I thought it was the end," one passenger told Rossiya 24 news channel. "We were trapped and only got out through a miracle. There were lots of injured. Various injuries: heads, legs."
Another witness, a young man in a polo shirt, told Life News television: "I got into the carriage and after about 20 seconds, the light went out and the train was just pulled apart. I was just thrown into the centre of the carriage."
"Panic started," he told Life News television. "We climbed out of the carriages and we saw a blockage, men took hammers and pliers and broke it down and we walked on. The train was smashed, the chassis was just pulled apart."
Pictures from the scene showed rescue workers carrying out body bags from the Metro tunnel.
Alexei Naryshkin, a presenter on the popular Echo of Moscow radio station, reported: "They are laying out the injured. They constantly go down with stretchers. They carry them out. Some are unconscious. Some are moaning with pain."
"108 people were taken to Moscow hospitals, more than a third of them are in heavy condition," deputy head of Moscow Municipal Health department Alexey Khripun told Echo Moscow radio. "Some were taken straight into intensive care, some had to go into operation theatres."
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin was at the scene in charge of the rescue.
Some 60 ambulances were ferrying the wounded away from the stricken train.
A woman injured in a Moscow metro derailment receives medical treatment on July 15, 2014 in Moscow, RussiaThe Metro was opened by Stalin in 1935.
"This is the most serious man-made disaster in the Moscow underground in its entire history," said infrastructure analyst Alexei Khazbiyev. "It is the most serious accident apart from terrorist attacks."
Vladimir Putin's spokesman said: "The president has been informed. The Moscow authorities informed him about the incident and the measures that are being taken."
A probe was launched into the cause of the derailment.
The 202 mile Moscow metro with 194 stations was originally built in the Stalin era and fourth busiest in the world.
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