Commuter train crash kills eight in London
I
by Mara Bellaby
Associated Press
London—Two packed commuter trains
collided near London’s Paddington Sta
tion during the height of the morning rush
hour Tuesday, killing eight people and in
juring at least 160.
Several cars derailed in the residen
tial Ladbroke Grove area of west .Lon
don. “It is a tangled and difficult scene,”
Deputy Police Commissioner Andy Trot
ter said.
Passenger Stuart Allen said the crash
“almost felt like a dream.”
“I was thinking, ‘God, please don’t
let me die,”’ he said. “You’ve goiflames.
You ’ve got smoke. You’ve got a big bang.
You’ve just got to think the worst.”
British Transport Police said eight
people were known killed and at least
160 hurt. Authorities said 128 people had
been taken to hospitals, 21 of them with
severe injuries.
Nearly six hours after the 8:11 a.m.
(3:11 EDT) crash, the last three surviv
ing trapped passengers were freed, po
lice said.
“We believe there are a number of
bodies still trapped in the wreckage, but
it is impossible to gauge the number of
those on board,” said Tony Thompson of
the British Transport Police.
“The scene is one of twisted metal
and burned-out carriages, which makes
the search a long and careful process,”
he said. “But we are satisfied there are
no live casualties left inside.”
Ambulance and fire crews, police and
rail workers swarmed around the over
turned and twisted rail cars for hours, lo
cating and freeing passengers.
Other passengers, some with cuts and
bruises, said they were also able to help
: people out of overturned cars. Emeigency
officials were treating the injured at a su
permarket near the crash scene.
“There were really badly hurt peo
ple, badly burned people. Some people
have been impaled by seats,” passenger
Amelia Bane said.
The collision involving the two main
line trains took place two miles west of
Paddington Station, less than a mile north
of Notting Hill. "
Mark Palmer said he was in the street
nearby when he heard a “huge explosion
lasting for about 15 seconds, followed by
billowjng smoke.”
He said one of the engines and one of
the train cars were burned and lying on
their sides. Many of the other carriages
had jackknifed.
“It looks just horrendous. Rescuers
are pulling people out of the wreckage.
There are dozens of ambulances and fire
engines;” Palmer said.
BBC Radio reporter Phil Longman,
who also was on one of the trains, said,
“There was an initial bang and the train
seemed to leap in the air.”
“There was another bang and I was
flung forward and I saw a piece of wreck
age to the side of the window.... I thought
the wreckage was going to come through
the window,” Longman said.
“The guard came on the [speaker sys
tem] and told people to walk to the back
of the train. You could hear him calling
out for help from the emeigency services.
He said ‘major emergency, major emer
gency.’”
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott
announced a public inquiry into the crash
after visiting the scene.
Special to The Gamecock
Rescue workers stand near the charred and mangled carriages of
two trains that crashed Tuesday west of London. At least eight people
were killed in the accident.
'Fugitive' victim's body to be exhumed
by John Affleck
Associated Press
Cleveland — Prosecutors trying to show that Dr. Sam
Sheppard killed his wife 45 yean ago exhumed the body of
Marilyn Sheppard Tuesday morning along with the fetus she
was carrying when she died.
After about one hour inside a two-story mausoleum in a
suburban Cleveland cemetery, three police cars led a convoy
of about one dozen can, including a hearse bearing Mn. Shep
pard’s bodv. from the cemetery to the coroner’s office.
Her death in 1954 and the charge against her husband cre
ated a nationwide sensation and helped inspire “The Fugitive”
television series and movie.
Prosecutors trying to show that Sheppard was the killer
planned to examine the body to try to get a “clean DNA pro
fiile." __
The exhumation was done as part of the state’s effort to de
fend itself against a lawsuit by the couple’s son, Sam Reese
Sheppard.
Sheppard contends his father was wrongfully imprisoned
for his mother’s death. The doctor was imprisoned for 10 years
before being acquitted at a retrial. He died in 1970.
The younger Sheppard is suing the state to have his father
declared innocent, a stronger legal statement than the “not
guilty” verdict at his second criminal trial. Sheppard could col
lect an estimated $2 million if he wins.
Mrs. Sheppard was beaten to death in her second-floor bed
room at the family’s home on Lake Erie. Her husband, who
had been napping on the first floor, maintained that a bushy
haired intruder killed his wife and then knocked him uncon
scious when he heard her screams and ran to help.
Public health officials
prepare for early flu season
by Leslie Miller
Associated Press
Boston — The flu season appears to
have arrived early this year, courtesy of
an influenza strain that reached the
continental United States by hopping a
ride on Alaskan cruise ships.
Public health officials from Colorado
to Massachusetts have kicked off cam
paigns encouraging people to get vacci
nated against the disease, the sixth-lead
ing cause of death in the United States.
“Remember when you get your shots,
just think to yourself afterwards, it’s just
one shot for man, one giant leap for pub
lic health,” Massachusetts Public Health
Commissioner Howard Koh said Mon
day.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Con
trol and Prevention in Atlanta estimates
that as mush as 20 percent of the popu
lation gets the flu every season. Ap
proximately 20,000 Americans die from
flu complications each year.
Flu viruses follow well-worn paths,
starting in Asia and heading east, health
officials say.
Alaska is usually the first place in the
United States to be affected, with the
viruses eventually making their way south
to the western United States and even
tually the East Coast, said Dr. Steven
Mostow, associate dean of the Univer
sity of Colorado Medical School and an
influenza expert.
World Briefs
■ 3 die after car veers
into Lake Michigan
. Chicago (AP) — Police are investigat
ing whether a woman deliberately drove
her car into Lake Michigan in a wreck
that killed her and two of her children.
The car veered off Lake Shore Dri
ve, went slowly down some steps and
paused for a moment before it suddenly
accelerated and went into a downtown
harbor Monday night, police and wit
nesses said.
Two police officers went into the
murky, 59-degree water to try to rescue
the victims. The officers had to be
treated for exposure.
Police divers had to break a window
to pull out the victims: Shirley Combest,
33, a long-distance operator for Sprint;
her daughter, Shaniqua, 8; and her son
John, 6. Ms. Combest had a teen-age son
who was not in the car.
Ms. Combest had a history of de
pression and had been under a doctor’s
care a few months ago, said her mother,
Ruthie Mae Combest. She said her daugh
ter also was grieving over the death of an
older sister in a car accident last month.
“She was taking it awful hard,” the
mother said.
■ Maimed elephant
enjoys first walk since
operation
Lampang, Thailand (AP) — Motola,
the elephant maimed by a land mine and
saved by emergency surgery to amputate
her foot last month, on Tuesday took her
first walk since the operation.
The veterinarians tending the 38-year
old elephant said the walk appeared to
boost the animal's spirits.
“It took a long time for Motola to
walk for 30 yards, but she seems so
happy,” said Preecha Puangkham, head
of Hang Chat Elephant Hospital in the
northern province of Lampang. “I can
feel the joy she has from being outside,
even though it looks painful to go around
hobbling on her three good legs.”
Preecha and an elephant trainer kept
Motola company on her first walk in al
most 40 days. Preecha noticed the ele
phant eating fresh weeds and leaves she
found along the way.