'%20id='ico-down'%20stroke='%23000000'%20stroke-width='1.5'%3e%3cg%20transform='translate(1092.250000,%20254.750000)'%3e%3cpolyline%20id='Path-2-Copy-4'%20transform='translate(5.500000,%202.750000)%20scale(1,%20-1)%20rotate(-180.000000)%20translate(-5.500000,%20-2.750000)%20'%20points='0%200%205.5%205.5%2011%200'%3e%3c/polyline%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
15 April 2004
MADRID – An army sergeant was killed Thursday when the military car he was driving was hit by a train on a level-crossing, the Defence Minister confirmed.
The tragedy happened in Zaragoza, in western Spain, near one of the biggest army bases in the country.
Four other people who were in the car at the time of the crash were also injured.
One was said to be in a critical condition.
They were being treated in hospital.
Federico Trillo, the acting defence minister, said the accident happened at Burgo de Ebro at about 3.30am.
He said: “A train had smashed into the vehicle, unfortunately, and one of its occupants, a sergeant in the army, has tragically been killed.”
Trillo said four others were injured, one of those seriously.
The car was hit by the train as the soldiers kept watch on the train track in case of another terrorist attack.
Terrorists left a bomb on the high-speed AVE track between Madrid and Seville on 2 April, but it was defused.
Security around train tracks, as well as around ports, airports and other public places, has been increased in the wake of the 11 March bombings in Madrid.
The tragedy also comes less than a week after six young people were killed when their car was hit by a train on a level-crossing near Salamanca in western Spain.
Four men and two women, who were thought to be in their late teens or early twenties, died instantly on Good Friday.
Two others, who were in the same car, were still seriously injured.
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]
Subject: Spanish news