1.
GV Crushed train
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2.
GV Rescue workers operate under arclights PAN ALONG wrecked train
0.13

3.
GV Rescuer workers TILT DOWN AND PAN ALONG damaged track and overturned carriages
0.40

4.
STV Rescue workers PAN LONG wrecked engine TO more rescue workers
0.50

5.
GV TILT DOWN TO SV Rescue workers clear wreckage and search for bodies (3 shots)
1.09

6.
GV PAN Coffin being carried away
1.17

7.
SCU PAN & GV Woman trying to identify body in coffin (2 shots)
1.26



Initials BB/0201 JL/DW/BB/0214


TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Police and railway officials on Tuesday (26 October) said that 23 people were killed in Monday's head on collision between two express trains in a mountain tunnel near Tsu. 27 passengers were seriously injured, as well as about 2000 suffering from minor injuries. Some 500 people were thought have been aboard the two trains.

A Nagoya-bound train was supposed to wait in a siding at the entrance to a long mountain tunnel until the other express, bound for Osaka, was safely through. Reports from the scene indicate that the Osaka train was completely inside the tunnel, while the Nagoya train was halfway inside the tunnel, when the collision occurred.

Malfunctioning of the brakes on either of the trains has been pointed out as the likeliest cause of the accident.

SYNOPSIS: A driver screamed a warning to his passengers over the loudspeaker system to prepare themselves for a collision, seconds before his train and another express met head-on in a single line tunnel near Tsu on Monday. The driver was one of twenty-three known dead in the accident. A Nagoya-bound train was supposed to wait on a siding at the entrance to the long mountain tunnel, until the other express, bound for Osaka, was safely through. Reports from the scene, however, indicate that both trains were in the tunnel when the collision occurred.

Of the estimated five-hundred passengers on both trains, two-hundred and fifth sustained in juries, with twenty-seven in serious condition. Initial rescue efforts were hampered by the location of the tunnel, in a mountainous area inaccessible by road. Many passengers were trapped in the wreckage for hours, until rescue workers managed to cut their way through the twisted metal. Officials said that the tunnel was almost completely blocked by the wreckage.

Investigations into the causes of the accident are being conducted by police, the transport Ministry, and railway officials. Malfunctioning of the brakes on either of the trains has been pointed out as the likeliest cause.