In Budapest, two metro (subway) cars collided on Monday morning; according to Máté Kisdi, spokesman of Budapest’s Capital City Emergency Response Office, 10 people were injured in the crash.
The two cars, both on the M2 Metro Line, were traveling in the direction of Budapest’s Southern Railway Station (Déli Pályudvar) when the one caught up with the other at the Pillango Street Metro Station. Unable to stop, the rear car “bumped into” the front one, according to Mr. Kisdi. Both cars had passengers in them at the time of collision.
In an interview with Hungarian news site Magyar Nemzet, Krisztofer Lami, a passenger on one of the metro cars, described the collision in the following way:
I was travelling on the metro car that was hit by the other car. I sitting at the very end of the car. We were sitting at the metro stop for a long time, when suddenly, we felt a huge jolt. We thought it was an explosion or a terrorist attack. People fell on the floor, screamed, and cried. This was followed by panicked fleeing.
According to information received by Hungarian state television (MTVA), while the accident may have been caused by human error, mechanical failure may have been the cause as well; there have been issues with this stretch of metro line in the past, and for this reason metro conductors had switched from automatic to manual steering.
Ambulances in front of the Pillangó street stop of the M2 Metro line., where 10 were injured in a metro car collision (Photo: MTI- Zoltán Mihádák).
The Hungarian National EMS Service (OMSZ) informed news service MTI that five ambulances had been dispatched to the scene of the accident, and that nine people were taken to the hospital with contusions and injuries to limbs. Medical examination at the scene of the accident determined that none of those injured were in life-threatening condition, while x-ray examinations at the hospital will determine whether anyone’s bones were broken in the collision. In addition, there was one individual who suffered from minor injuries; after being treated on the scene, he declined to go to the hospital, and left the area.
In an announcement on their official Facebook page, Budapest’s Public Transportation Authority (BKK) informed the public that, dude to the accident, the stretch of the 2 Metro Line running from Örs vezér tere and Puskás Ferenc Stadion (Ferenc Puskás Stadium) will be closed, with substitute buses servicing the impacted stops.
Via MTI, Magyar Nemzet, and Origo
Images via MTI