Fatal UK rail crash clues sought

The high-speed collision of two high-speed trains left carnage

LONDON, England -- The painstaking search has resumed at the site of the Selby train crash in which at least 13 people were killed.

Police said the mangled carriages would not be removed from the tracks until all the passengers' possessions -- which may prove vital to identification -- had been removed.

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The accident happened on Wednesday after a Land Rover crashed onto the railway line and was then hit by a high-speed passenger train, which in turn derailed into the path of a freight train.

Human remains from 13 different locations around the crash site have now been recovered and it is feared more could be found once the heavy lifting equipment is used to lift the wreckage.

The bodies from Britain's fourth fatal rail crash in as many years have been taken to a makeshift mortuary at a nearby Royal Air Force base.

Of the 70 people injured in the crash 33 remain in hospital, at least two in a critical condition.

The driver of the GNER's Newcastle-London express, John Weddle, GNER chef Paul Taylor, and one of the drivers of the coal-laden goods train, Stephen Dunn, were confirmed among the dead.

A third member of the GNER crew, customer operations leader Raymond Robson, 43, from Whitley Bay, was "unaccounted for."

Emergency crews fear the death toll could rise

Builder Gary Hart had been towing a Renault estate car on a flat bed trailer along the M62 motorway when his Land Rover veered off the carriageway and onto one of Britain's busiest -- and fastest -- railway lines.

Police said they were investigating several causes for the accident, including the possibility that the Land Rover suffered a tyre blow-out, or that Hart fell asleep at the wheel.

Hart's wife has dismissed the suggestion that he had fallen asleep as "rubbish," saying the crash was a tragic accident.

"Gary is a very traumatised and is suffering a lot of pain. He is more than willing to co-operate with the British Transport Police, but he has been asked not to comment at this stage," she told a news conference.

She said her husband was undergoing counselling.

His stepfather Martyn Taylor described Hart as "inconsolable with grief."

At the crash site a road allowing heavy equipment to be used is being constructed and a giant crane assembled.

A police spokesman said relatives of those feared dead had been offered the chance to visit the scene.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Railtrack
Great North Eastern Railway

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