160 hurt in Thai subway crash
BANGKOK, Thailand -- At least 160 people were injured when two trains collided at a Bangkok subway station, police and eyewitnesses said.
Some of the victims were bleeding as rescue workers carried them up the stairs of the Cultural Center station to ambulances, according to The Associated Press.
Others, dazed and crying, were helped up the stairs to the street.
Hospital sources told CNN that at least 160 people were injured, eight of them critically.
Officials said a driver on one of the trains was seriously injured and was taken to an intensive care unit.
The accident struck in rush hour, at around 9:30 a.m. Monday (0230 GMT), at the station in the heart of the capital.
It is the first accident on the $2.8 billion single-route 18-station subway that began running in August last year.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters the accident was caused by human error and not computer error, as some media outlets had reported.
Bangkok's singe line subway runs for 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) under the traffic-clogged streets of the sprawling city but so far is not very popular with commuters.
It is designed to carry more than 250,000 passengers a day, but only about 100,000 people use it.
The subway is run by the Bangkok Metro Company, a consortium led by property developer Ch Karnchang, and is part of a $7.5 billion, 110-km (68-mile) city-wide transport network aimed at resolving Bangkok's traffic woes by 2011.
CNN Producer Narunart Prapanya contributed to this report
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
