A Tunisian passenger train collided with a truck at a crossing on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people and injuring at least 86 others when two carriage cars derailed.
The train smashed into the truck at a speed of approximately 80 mph just o
utside of the town of Fahs at 6:30 a.m., according to The Wall Street Journal. Although local media at the scene initially reported that the truck driver was among the dead in the wreckage, Lt. Col. Selmi Youfsi reported that the driver leapt out of the truck when he saw the train careening towards him and was later taken into custody. The train’s engineer, however, numbered amongst the dead.
Although some faulted the railway security for the collision, due to its lack of secure crossings without a
guardrails, lights, or barriers, according to The New York Times, others blamed the truck driver for the catastrophe.
“Accidents like this one happen at crossings, and it’s usually due to the lack of attention by the cars and trucks, because the train has to follow the rails,” Yousfi said, according to The Journal.
This incident raised continued questions over train and railroad safety concerns,
especially in the U.S., according to The Washington Times, due to increasing federal regulations and rules as a result of national accidents. However, looking at the U.S.’s safety records shows that explosive derailments and other fatal accidents are still rare.
“The record speaks for itself. Having said that, you want to look at every event and review it to see what you can learn from it,” said Peter Goelz, former managing director at the National Transportation Safety Board, according to The Washington Times. “There is no question that [federal officials] are paying close attention to all of these accidents.”
The newspaper reported that U.S. train accidents declined by 43 percent from 2004 to 2012, and most of those “accidents” were minor and resulted in no deaths. In 2012, the Federal Railroad Administration reported nine deaths from train accidents that excluded metros or subways.