Safety experts have shared top tips on train safety after a fatal railway crash in Spain killed 69 people, including where the safest place is in an emergency.
asserted
place → share → emergency
Three carriages derailed when a train travelling from Madrid to Seville collided with a stationary one on the same route near the city of Toledo shortly before 9am yesterday.
asserted
train → derail → yesterday
The collision left 69 dead and dozens injured in scenes described as 'apocalyptic' by surviving passengers.
asserted
dozens → leave → passengers
Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente told reporters an 'inexplicable' order from a central command unit was to blame after a security system failed.
asserted
system → tell → unit
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Craig Delahaye, Associate Director, Legal Operations, National Accident Helpline, said: 'Travellers must remember that such incidents are vanishingly rare, but when they do occur, knowing where to position yourself in the carriage could be the difference between a few scrapes and much more serious injuries.
'
uncertain
knowing → speak → scrapes
As a general rule, I'd suggest avoiding the front and rear carriages.
asserted
I → suggest → carriages
These will bear the immediate brunt of any collision and will also come off the tracks first in a derailment.
asserted
These → bear → derailment
'The middle of the train is normally safer as it is buffered from the accident zone by surrounding carriages, but it is not a guarantee of safety.
asserted
it → buffer → safety
Where you sit within your selected carriage can also have an effect on the outcomes in the case of an accident.'
asserted
sit → sit → accident
Investigators survey debris amongst the damaged carriages of a train crash between two high-speed trains
A damaged carriage is removed with heavy machinery at the site of a train crash between two high-speed trains
Mr Delahaye added that if a train overturns, most people 'presume it is best to be on the downwards side of the carriage.'
asserted
it → survey → carriage
However, this would mean that 'people and luggage will fall on you,' he explains.
asserted
he → mean → you
'It is hard to say whether this is better than being one of those falling people yourself, however, one thing is certain: if the train begins to come off the tracks, you should adopt an airplane-style brace position.
asserted
you → say → position
The sideways-facing seats, normally found by the doors, are also not a good choice when it comes to safety.
asserted
it → face → safety
These are the most exposed in the carriage, meaning that debris, or you, will fall the furthest in the event of a derailment.
asserted
debris → expose → derailment
'The next advice will anger the average commuter squeezed in like a sardine; however, it is best to sit rather than stand,' he adds.
asserted
he → anger → sardine
Mr Delahaye notes that he is 'not a specialist in train crash investigations,' adding: 'I am a professional health and safety consultant and I investigate all types of workplace-based accidents.'
'However, I read extensively of all accidents and having started my career in safety in October 1988 I have significant experience and background knowledge.
asserted
I → note → experience
I'm a specialist in risk assessment, but my advice cannot take priority over anything provided by the rail companies,' he says.
asserted
he → take → companies
The death toll of the fatal crash in Spain is expected to rise as questions remain over the technical room 'error' which caused the smash.
asserted
which → expect → smash
All trains on a stretch of 63km had been drawn to a halt due to a computer malfunction, but central command told a Renfe train to restart its journey without any speed restrictions.
asserted
command → draw → restrictions
A little more than 20 minutes later, at 8.53am, it smashed into the back of the stationary Iryo train 100 miles south of Madrid, leaving carriages totally destroyed and derailed.
asserted
it → smash → carriages
It was reported that the locomotive was capable of travelling at speeds of 185mph.
asserted
locomotive → report → mph
A passenger rescued from one of the trains involved in a collision arrives in Urda, Spain
Two people wait for updates outside a support center for relatives of missing victims in Urda
Transport minister Mr Puente said the control centre 'had more than enough time to verify the error, and they did not fix it.'
asserted
they → rescue → it
He added: 'The decision to resume traffic, while that system had not been restored, belongs to the control centre.'
asserted
system → add → centre
The tragedy came less than a year after 46 people died in January when a train jumped the track and hit an incoming one in southern Spain.
asserted
train → come → Spain
That smash raised widespread concern about the safety of the nation's railways, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declaring the situation 'not acceptable' following Wednesday's incident.
asserted
situation → raise → incident
He said Spain would observe three days of mourning beginning today, while opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo suspended campaigning but said: 'Spain has the right to know what is going on with its infrastructure.'
asserted
what → say → infrastructure
Surviving passengers described horrific scenes following the crash yesterday morning.
asserted
passengers → survive → crash
Sebastian Herrero, 46, who was travelling on the Iryo train, said he was 'thrown against the seats' when the trains collided, and described how he was 'in the air for about four or five seconds', which felt like 'a lifetime'.
asserted
which → travel → lifetime
He added: 'There are three carriages of the Iryo, the three at the end, from which they keep taking people out and putting sheets on them.
asserted
they → add → them
'In those carriages, I find it very hard to believe there are any living people.
asserted
it → find → carriages
It's as if they had planted a bomb.'
asserted
they → plant → bomb
A Red Cross volunteer comforts a woman outside a support center for relatives of missing victims in Urda
One carriage caught fire and smoke was still pouring from the mangled wreckage as emergency responders reached the scene.
asserted
responders → comfort → scene
It emerged last night that Fatima Banez, Spain's former employment minister, was among the dead.
asserted
Banez → emerge → dead
Horrifying photographs showed a carriage impaled on a long steel rail that was forced through the floor and out of the roof.
asserted
that → show → roof
The crash came the day before a 24-hour work stoppage at Renfe by Spain's biggest train drivers' union.
asserted
crash → come → union
Earlier this month, the union said: 'Our goal is to change the system and make it safer.
asserted
it → say → system
We demand real and definitive technical solutions to the safety and reliability issues that have long plagued our rolling stock.'
asserted
that → demand → stock
Speaking from the crash site, Prime Minister Sanchez said: 'The whole of Spain is grieving,' before adding that the authorities would determine the cause of the accident and take action if wrongdoing is uncovered.
asserted
wrongdoing → speak → action
He added: 'If there has been negligence, it will be known.'
asserted
it → add → ?
The Aporia
