Latvia, Railways, Transport

As reported, the accident took place on December 20 last year when a cargo train from Jelgava possibly ran a red light, crashing into a standing train at the "Ventspils 2" station. When the train drove into the station, it applied the brakes, but it was not enough to stop it in time, writes LETA.

Ten fuel tank cars caught fire as a result, the fire was so huge with billowing black smoke that it could be seen from about one kilometer away.

The bodies of the train engineer and his assistant were discovered in the locomotive.

Neatkariga reports that there has been little official information about the investigation in the case, but the official version of events at this time is that the train engineer and his assistant fell asleep ten minutes before the collision. However, a source informs the newspaper that the accident took place because of an error on the part of a traffic controller at the Ventspils Train Station, a young woman who was working for just the fifth day.

Recordings of conversations between the Ventspils Station traffic controllers suggest that at one point the traffic controllers failed to understand each other, and one of them allowed the cargo train to pass although there was a stationary train 1.2 kilometers down the tracks, as the source informed the newspaper.