Heavy Rain Sends Train Off the Rails
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FREE COPY FOOTBALL THE NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHERN SPAIN The optimism Official market leader subsides after Audited by PGD/OJD December 1st to 7th 2017 Copa del Rey www.surinenglish.com elimination News 2 What To Do 47 Malaga crash out of the cup Comment 24 My Home 53 Lifestyle 26 Sport 56 at the hands of second- 37 61 Health & Beauty Classified division Numancia P56 in English Food & Drink 44 Pastimes 70 Heavy rain sends train off the rails The Malaga to Seville train derailed in Downpours caused The Seville train that left Malaga at 7.40 riously. Investigations are now under the River Guadaíra to on Wednesday morning failed to reach way to establish why the line was re- El Arahal, injuring 37 passengers, two burst its banks, its destination after it derailed near El opened after being closed earlier that seriously, on Wednesday morning flooding the line Arahal, injuring 37 passengers, two se- morning due to flooding. P2&3 The train derailed near El Arahal in the province of Seville. :: SALVADOR SALAS Celebrating 100 years of World Aids Day. Around Visitors pour independence. The local 18 per cent of the 145,000 into Malaga to Finnish community is people with HIV in Spain preparing to celebrate with are unaware they are see ‘cathedral’ a number of concerts P37 carrying the virus P40 of festive lights Setting sail for a new life It’s business as usual in in Hawaii. A film tells the Catalonia, says British Christmas light shows story of the thousands who Chamber of Commerce aim to bring in shoppers left Malaga for the sugar vice-president for to towns and cities P10 plantations in 1907 P26 Barcelona, Laura Byrne P19 The display in Calle Larios, Malaga. :: SALVADOR SALAS 22222222 December 1st to 7th 2017 NEWS SUR IN ENGLISH Dozens injured as Malaga-Seville train derails at El Arahal in bad weather emergency services used another train, provided by Adif, to reach the spot. Some medical personnel decided to walk more than three kilome- tres, with the help of the security forces, because they believed this would be the quickest way of reaching the train and helping the injured passengers. Accidents such as this are un- common in Spain. The last of this type was in March 2005 when a train derailed in Antequera after hitting a rock which fell onto the line in bad weather. On that occa- sion only 20 passengers were on board, and two of them suffered slight injuries. Questions are now being asked about Wednesday’s incident. The train derailed at Km 19.5, on the line which had been closed earlier the same morning because of the heavy rain. Passengers on two pre- vious scheduled services had been transported by road. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Adif (the railway The line was badly damaged after the river overflowed :: SALVADOR SALAS infrastructure administrator) and Renfe are now investigating whether trains should have been About 110 litres of rain The nearby river, which is a tri- permitted to travel again on a butary of the Guadaíra, had over- stretch of track where there had per square metre had flowed after a storm during which already been incidents earlier in fallen on the area and over 110 litres of rain fell per squa- the day. The Guadaíra river had re metre, and the accident is belie- overflowed, several streams had the railway line had ved to have been caused by the wa- burst their banks and roads had only just reopened ter washing away the base of the been cut off, including the A-92. track, which sank as the train pas- Wednesday’s accident occurred when the accident sed overhead. about six kilometres from a stretch took place The track was left with no slee- which had been cut off between pers for a distance over 100 metres, 7.45 and 9.25am because pools of :: IGNACIO LILLO and as a result the last carriage water had formed on the track. The MALAGA. A train from Malaga to slipped off one side. Passengers say Malaga-Seville train derailed ba- Seville derailed on Wednesday they felt a series of violent rely half an hour after it had been morning, eight kilometres from El shudders, which they described as reopened. Arahal station and between El Ara- like being “in an earthquake.” The president of the Junta de hal and El Sorbito, in Seville pro- Farm workers in the area were Andalucía, Susana Díaz, has asked vince. the first on the scene to assist the why the line was reopened “under The train had left Malaga at injured and they used tractors to these conditions”, and the Minis- 7.40am and was carrying over 70 help the ambulances to cross the try of Public Works and Transport, passengers when its third carria- waterlogged and muddy ground to Íñigo de la Serna, blames the fact ge came off the track in heavy ra- the train, and to dig them out that the Guadaíra river overflowed infall around 10 o’clock. More than when they became stuck. after the line had been opened. He half of the passengers were inju- Because of the adverse condi- says there had been no previous red, according to the 112 Emer- tions, the Guardia Civil organised problem on that part of the line gency service and the Junta de An- an aircraft and a team from the and the Seville-Malaga train had dalucía: 35 suffered minor injuries Military Emergences Unit in passed the same spot earlier with and two were seriously hurt. Morón was called to assist. Other The third carriage came off the track. :: SALVADOR SALAS no problems. December 1st to 7th 2017 3 SUR IN ENGLISH NEWS Where the accident happened Campillos and Teba suffer badly Cordoba AVE Conventional line from flooding after downpours Seville Marchena Utrera Arahal There were numerous to pump water out from a property Emergency Service received more in Bobadilla Estación. Since the than 40 calls for assistance in the Malaga calls to the Emergency Renfe Services and Civil storm, the road between Bobadilla area. conventional line and Torrecilla , which runs close to Classes at several schools were The derailment Protection during the the works on the AVE railway line, suspended, either because the play- occurred on a night and early morning, has remained cut off. ground was completely flooded and stretch of the old However, the worst of the dam- the pupils couldn’t enter the prem- line between but nobody was injured age was in Campillos. A thick layer ises, or because the roads were im- Malaga and Sevil- of mud covered many of the streets passable and pupils were unable to le. It is not con- :: FERNANDO TORRES nected with the and numerous cleaning teams had make the journey. AVE high speed The Guadalteba area was one of the to be contracted especially, work- The mayor of Campillos, Fran- service. most affected by the heavy rain in ing for hours to remove debris from cisco Guerrero, blamed the flood- Arahal the early hours of Wednesday the roads, many of which were cut ing on the neglected state of the Ar- morning, especially in Campillos, off. The avenue from the bridge to royo Rincón. He said he was also where people woke to find that ex- the Local Police station resembled taking advice on whether Campil- tensive damage had been caused a swimming pool, and the 112 los should be declared a disaster area. by the Arroyo del Cuervo, which The train is known locally as the Arroyo derailed here Rincón, overflowing. The stream was dirty and full of Good news for water places which were badly af- Utrera vegetation after the summer, so fected by the drought and mud and plants were washed down reserves and farmers where farmers were particu- the streets together with the wa- larly concerned. ter. Two schools were affected by Despite the problems caused Supplies were boosted in flooding, one of them while pupils by this week’s heavy rainfall, the main reservoirs of Malaga were inside. They were evacuated it was good news for the prov- province, all of which received safely. ince’s water reserves, as these between 30 and 40 litres per In Teba the river also overflowed had reached a critical level. In square metre. In total, the re- in several places, and the football Archidona, 74 litres of rain fell serves gained over 2.5 cubic “The train started to sway ground and industrial estate were per square metre, 61 in Fuente hectometres of water, in a sin- particularly badly affected. de Piedra, 55 in Bobadilla and gle day. The Guadalhorce now alarmingly. It was like being It was a busy day for the fire bri- Cañete la Real, and 45 in Cue- contains 53.3 hm3, the Gua- in an earthquake” gade, who among other tasks had vas del Becerro and Pujerra, all dalteba 39 and El Conde 21. :: J. CANO / M. D. TORTOSA a catastrophe,” he said. SEVILLE / MALAGA. He was tra- Rosa Cañete, from Torremolinos, velling from Malaga to Seville for a was in another carriage. “Everything meeting of the Andalusian parlia- was shaking, people were being ment. “I was preparing for it, wri- thrown about and we were all look- ting various notes on my tablet, ing at the roof, thinking that if that when the train started to sway alar- split open we could have been guil- mingly. It was like being in an ear- lotined,” she said. Rosa was injured, thquake,” said Carlos Hernández but not seriously.