1.
ELEVATED GV. Wrecked train.
0.07

2.
Ditto - another angle.
0.10

3.
GV Another angle ditto.
0.12

4.
SV Wreckage.
0.15

5.
SV PAN..Tilted coaches.
0.26

6.
SV Side of tilted coaches.
0.28

7.
MV Bogey and wreckage.
0.30

8.
CU Sign "Vintimille".
0.32

9.
CU Broken rail.
0.34

10.
MV Base of restaurant coach.
0.37

11.
CU Debris.
0.39

12.
SV Worker descends from upturned coach.
0.44

13.
CU Twisted tubes.
0.46

14.
CU Damaged undercarriage.
0.53

15.
MV Debris.
0.56

16.
SV Tilted coach and debris on line etc.,
0.58

17.
MV TILT SHOT..Damaged coachwork.
1.03

18.
GV PAN..Tilted coach.
1.12

19.
GV PAN..Men working replacing rails.
1.17



Initials JRG/S/JF/PB



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The night express Amsterdam-Ventimiglia, serving Paris and the French Riviera, travelling at 80 miles an hour south of Lyons, came off the rails between Fayzin and le Sarasin without loss of life, Mar 9.

Investigators blamed sabotage - the deliberate unbolting of a joint between two rails; police held for questioning thirteen Algerian Moslems some of them Railway employees.

Investigators believed the sabotage had a good knowledge of rail construction, and with the right tools were able to unbolt the joint without interfering with the track-side signals lines.

The crash injured 12, three of them seriously. Some hundred other passengers escaped unharmed.

Rail officials described their escape as a miracle. Though the entire train came off the rails over two-thirds of a mile, the coaches missed striking a bridge.

The width of the way with its four tracks also helped prevent the train from hurtling into the embankment to cause the usually fatal telescope or zigzag formation across the track.

Solid construction in steel of the coaches was a major factor in reducing injuries. Another: locomotive used was electric. In a recent crash, an exploding steam locomotive caused the death of twenty passengers - burned alive.