(13 Jul 2013)
French PM says too early to know cause of tragedy; wreckage of derailed train
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AP TELEVISION
Bretigny-sur-Orge - 12 July 2013
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Wide pan of train wreckage on platform
2. Close up of train wreckage on platform
3.Close up of train wreckage on platform
Morning scenes a day after a train derails killing at least six people near Paris
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AP TELEVISION
Bretigny-sur-Orge - 13 July 2013
4. Various of train wreckage
Wreckage being cleared after train derailed killing at least six people
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AP TELEVISION
Bretigny-sur-Orge - 13 July 2013
5. derailed train carriages in station
6. Mid of emergency workers next to wreckage of carriage
STORYLINE:
On July 12th 2013 the French Prime Minister said it was "impossible" at this early stage to know what caused a train to derail and crash into a station outside of Paris killing at least six and injuring dozens.
Jean-Marc Ayrault visited the Bretigny-sur-Orge station, the site of the crash, late in the evening of July 12th and said the government, national railway Bureau of Investigations, and Accidents and the police were all carrying out investigations to find out what caused the tragedy.
"There will be three investigations that will allow us to find out quickly what caused this tragedy," he told reporters.
Investigators and fire officials continued to search through the wreckage on Friday night as they looked for clues to what caused the crash earlier in the day.
The crash was the deadliest in France in several years.
The Interior Ministry said some 192 people were either injured or being treated for shock - of which nine were in a critical condition.
Some 300 firefighters, 20 medical teams and eight helicopters were deployed to the scene to get survivors out of the derailed train carriages lying on the rail tracks inside Bretigny station.
French President Francois Hollande rushed to the scene at the Bretigny-sur-Orge station, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Paris.
Four of the seven train cars slid toward the station, crushing part of the metallic roof over the platform.
The accident came as France is preparing to celebrate its most important national holiday, Bastille Day, on Sunday, and as masses of people were heading out of Paris and other big cities to see family or for summer holidays.
It was unclear whether all the casualties were inside the train, or whether some had been on the platform, or how fast the train was travelling.
The French national railways authority SNCF said the train was carrying about 385 passengers when it derailed on Friday evening at 17:15 pm local time (15:15 GMT) and crashed into the station at Bretigny-sur-Orge, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Paris.
The train was headed from Paris to Limoges, a 400-kilometre (250-mile) journey, and was about 20 minutes into the scheduled three-hour journey.
According to the SNCF the train's third and fourth cars initially derailed, which then knocked the other cars off the track.
Trains operations have been suspended in Bretigny-sur-Orge for the next three days.
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France's Interior Ministry has lowered the death toll in a train derailment outside Paris to six and said nine people had been gravely injured.
The train, which was carrying hundreds of passengers, crashed into Bretigny-sur-Orge station on July 12th on the eve of a major holiday weekend.
The interior minister previously said seven people had been killed.
Dozens of other passengers were injured.
The crash is the deadliest in France for many years, and President Francois Hollande abandoned plans in the capital to visit the scene.
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