Metro crash kills nine people in Washington

Agence France-Presse

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Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty described the Monday evening collision as the deadliest in the subway system's 33-year history that nine people were found dead, reported local media. Rescuers used powerful blades to cut through the wreckage to find any more people trapped after a train slammed into a stationary one, forcing one subway car on top of the other and sending passengers hurtling through the air.

Fenty suggested the moving train may have been traveling too fast when it hit the stationary one. The rear car of the lead train compressed like an accordion before leapfrogging on top of it on an aboveground portion of track on the heavily used Red Line. "It was going at a speed that would have made that initial car literally compress to about one-fourth of the original size," Fenty told CNN. "We have to go in (to the compressed rear car) and find out if there's any remaining bodies," he added. .

The collision involving the six-compartment trains took place at 21:02 GMT near the Fort Totten Metro station, said Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority or MATA general manager John Catoe. Rescue workers helped survivors down off the other carriages. Some were limping and were clearly hurt. "I was on the train that got hit. I thought it was an explosion," said Abra Jeffers, "I thought it was like the train bombings in London" he added.