The Villa Soldati level crossing disaster occurred on the morning of June 11, 1962 in the

Villa Soldati Villa Soldati is a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the South-West of the city. It has a population of approximately 41,000 people, 40% of which live in Barrio Soldati, a public housing development built between 1973 and 1979. ...

neighborhood of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, when, in dense fog, a train struck a municipal bus carrying schoolchildren.Tragedias ferroviarias en Argentina
on Foro de Transportes (archived, 11 July 2011)''The Times'', Jun 12, 1962 page 10 It was one of the worst accidents in the city of Buenos Aires, with the number of fatal victims estimated between 31 and 42.

Accident

The accident happened near President Illia Station, where the

Belgrano Sur Line The Belgrano Sur line is an Argentine commuter rail service in the Greater Buenos Aires area, currently operated by state-owned enterprise Trenes Argentinos. The Belgrano Sur runs over tracks and through stations built by the Franco–Belgian ...

train that ran towards the Buenos Aires station crossed Lacarra Street at its junction with Veracruz street. The crossing attendant, believing the crossing to be clear, opened the barriers to allow a truck to cross. The truck was followed by the bus,''Railroad Wrecks'' by Edgar A. Haine, pages 143–144, Publ 1993 which was carrying 120 children. The bus driver did not hear the warning bell until it was too late. The impact of the train virtually destroyed the bus and pushed part of it 150 yards down the track. Dozens of ambulances and a hundred doctors arrived at the scene. The injured were taken to four different hospitals where a shortage of blood and plasma resulted in an appeal for blood donors, to which 1,500 people responded. Many children were taken to Hospital Piñero in a truck driven by the owner of a nearby

greengrocer A greengrocer is a person who owns or operates a shop selling primarily fruit and vegetables. The term may also be used to refer to a shop selling primarily produce. It is used predominantly in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United ...

, while others were taken by

colectivo ''Colectivo'' (English: collective bus) is the name given in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Paraguay to a type of public transportation vehicle, especially those of Argentina's capital city, Buenos Aires. The name comes from ''vehículos de tra ...

s 150 and 101 and

firetruck A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

s. At the moment of the accident, the visibility was very low due to thick fog, which was a major cause of the accident.

Victims

As a result, 33 people were killed and 83 injured. Other than the bus driver and a female teacher, the dead were children less than 13-years-old. There were no casualties on the train. Most of the children lived at a shanty town on Lacarra street and were less than 6 years old. A monument was built after the tragedy, marking the scene of the accident.

Notes

References

{{coord, 34, 39, 56, S, 58, 26, 57, W, display=title Railway accidents in 1962 1962 road incidents Level crossing incidents in Argentina Railway accidents involving fog Road accidents involving fog Bus incidents in Argentina 1960s in Buenos Aires June 1962 events in South America Rail transport in Buenos Aires 1962 disasters in Argentina