Tragic train derailment in northern Norway leaves one dead, four injured as Arctic Circle Express veers off mountainside track. (AP/Jan Kenneth Transeth)
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — At least one person was killed and four people injured when a train running along Norway’s northern coast derailed Thursday with 55 people on board, police said.
The Arctic Circle Express was on its way from Trondheim to the remote northern town of Bodoe, above the Arctic Circle, when it left the mountainside track. Police said they were alerted to the derailment at 1215 GMT.
The four people injured were taken to a nearby hospital. Their condition was unclear. Those who were unhurt were taken by bus to the town of Mo i Rana, 228 kilometers (140 miles) south of Bodoe.
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Rock Slide Likely Cause of Derailment
Police told Norwegian news agency NTB that a rock slide likely caused the derailment of the train, which was made up of a locomotive and five carriages. The VG newspaper carried a photo of a huge rock on the track that had smashed into a train carriage.
One of the passengers, Ingvart Strand Mølster, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that a rock hit the train but no one in his carriage was hurt, with the exception of one person who suffered a minor ankle injury.
Another passenger told the local newspaper Avisa Nordland that people were evacuated out through the windows. Norwegian media quoted passengers who said the train braked suddenly, throwing people around inside the carriages and shattering the windows.
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Passengers Describe Dramatic Braking and Evacuation
Passenger Sissel Trøan told NRK that the braking had been “dramatic.”
“I flew over a guy and broke a table in front of us. But I was lucky and sustained no injuries. I’m just a little shaky,” Trøan was quoted as saying.
NRK posted a video of the train which had left its mountainside tracks, crashing through trees and down onto the road, which was closed to traffic in the wake of the derailment.
Photos on Norwegian media showed the locomotive and what appeared to be at least two passenger cars. The derailment happened near Bodoe, just north of the Arctic Circle.
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