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Brazilian commuter train crash kills eight

At least eight people died and more than 100 were injured in a train crash on Thursday in a northern suburb of Rio de Janeiro, fire fighters and officials said.

"It is a tragedy with eight killed," said fire department chief Pedro Marcos.

Rio de Janeiro state health secretary Luiz Cortes said 111 injured people have been hospitalized, 12 in serious condition.

Officials said the death toll could go higher in the next few hours.

One train carrying around 750 passengers smashed at 80kph into a slow-moving train with four empty carriages that was changing tracks 200m from the Austin station, in the Nova Iguacu neighborhood.

"It was horrible," said passenger Robson Mendes. "Those traveling in the first carriage were seriously injured. I tried to help the victims, but many people trapped in the wreckage had panic attacks. I saw one body."

The passenger train's engineer was among the injured, while his colleague on the empty train came away unhurt, since the crash involved the last carriage, said the local railway managing company Supervia.

Some 60 firefighters were in action at the scene and the injured were taken to area hospitals.

Police threw a cordon around the crash site to prevent onlookers from hindering the rescue operation.

Rescuers said they had cleared victims from the wreckage within three hours of the crash.

A local resident, Sergio Ramos, said he was alerted to the crash when the ground shook and he saw "a great cloud of dust" rising above the tracks close to his house.

"I thought my house was falling down," Ramos said. "There was a lot of noise and screaming. I ran out to try and help people, and saw a lot of blood."

Marcos de Souza, who directs Hospital da Posse in Nova Iguacu, said injuries in the train crash include "broken legs and arms, facial and abdominal abrasions."

He said that psychologists were being assigned to help the victims' relatives.

The passenger train had left Rio's central train station at 3:10pm. The crash occurred one hour later and three stops away from the train's final destination in Japeri.

Waldir Lemos, president of the railway workers union, said he planned to sue Supervia for "maintenance deficiencies" on both train and tracks.

The railway company, in turn, announced a 10-day investigation into the crash and said it was ready to compensate all the crash victims.
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