The Benavídez rail disaster, which occurred on February 1, 1970, is the worst-ever rail disaster in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

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, leaving 236 dead and more than 500 injured.

Summary

This accident happened in an isolated, dimly lit area near Benavídez station, between

Ingeniero Maschwitz Ingeniero Maschwitz, known simply as Maschwitz, is a town in the Escobar Partido of the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It forms part of the urban conurbation of Greater Buenos Aires. This is the small town where International evangelist Luis Pal ...

and General Pacheco, north of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. A 21-carriage mixed passenger and freight General Bartolomé Mitre Railway express,"Historia de un trágico accidente ferroviario"
by Fernando Pérez, Actualidad Tigre-San Fernando, 17 Jan 2012 (''Estrella del Norte'') operated by

State-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

Ferrocarriles Argentinos Ferrocarriles Argentinos (abbreviated as FA; ) was a government-owned corporation, state-owned company that managed the entire Rail transport in Argentina, Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years. It was formed in 1948 when all the private r ...

, hauled by two diesel locomotives and carrying 260 passengers, was nearing the end of its 1,000-mile journey from Tucumán to Retiro in Buenos Aires"Accidentes Ferroviarios (Parte XI) - Benavídez, 1970"
on TodoTren.com.ar and had just passed Benavídez. Accidente benavidez 3

Ahead of it, a ten-carriage local train, which was carrying 1,090 passengers home to the capital after spending a weekend in fashionable Zárate on the banks of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. ...

, had come to a halt due to 'fuel injector trouble'.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', Tuesday, Feb 03, 1970; pg. 7; Issue 57784; col A Despite being stopped for 40 minutes as they tried to fix the problem, the crew of the local train failed to provide protection and at 20:15 the express ran into the back of it at a speed of 65 mph. The two diesel locomotives 'totally destroyed' the rear car and telescoped the next car through almost the entire length of the third from rear car, pushing it 80 yards down the track, though some passengers managed to jump clear. All the deaths and major injuries were aboard the local train. The pilot of an aeroplane radioed a control tower, who in turn notified emergency services.

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helicopters were used to bring medical supplies. An emergency hospital was established at the Pacheco station, five miles north of the accident site, and temporary morgues were set up at Pacheco and Benavídez. Survivors quoted in ''

'' said, 'We saw mutilated bodies everywhere', there was 'blood all over the place, the soldiers were just filling sacks with severed limbs'. In all 236 people were killed and more than 500 injured. After the accident ''Así'', a popular weekly magazine, published a 32-page article including gory photographs of the train crash and as a result was closed indefinitely by the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

that governed Argentina at the time.''Railway Wrecks'' by Edgar A. Haine, page 144-145, publ 1993,

Bibliography

*''Railway Wrecks'' by Edgar A. Haine, 1993, , pp. 144-145

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benavidez Rail Disaster Railway accidents in 1970 Train collisions in Argentina 1970 in Argentina Tigre, Buenos Aires February 1970 in South America 1970 disasters in Argentina