Train Kills Seven on Reality TV Show

[Lyon_Wonder]

Train Kills Seven on Reality TV Show

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031701757.html?nav=rss_artsandliving/entertainmentnews

By ARIEL GONZALEZ
The Associated Press
Friday, March 17, 2006; 9:19 PM

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- Seven residents of a Uruguayan town were killed on Friday when they were run over by a train they were moving manually as part of a reality television show aimed at raising funds for a local hospital, police said.

Several hundred townspeople from Young, about 235 miles west of the capital of Montevideo, were hauling a locomotive and two attached cars down a track _ pushing and pulling from different sides when some participants fell under the wheels, said a police department spokesman.

Several other people were hurt in Friday's accident, three of them critically.

Eyewitness Ana Portela told a local radio station that the train was moving when "somebody slipped and fell under the locomotive, and others were falling alongside it."

"There were shouts and somebody said 'my arm!'" Portela said. "Everybody was in a state of shock."

The residents were taking part in the program "A Challenge to the Heart," in which Uruguayan communities can raise funds for local charities by completing difficult tasks set by the network, in this case moving a train a certain distance down railroad tracks.

"We're deeply saddened and Channel 10 offers its solidarity and support to the families involved in this unexpected tragedy that came, in fact, while they were trying to help others," said a spokeswoman for the network airing the reality show.

[coborn35]

Isnt that ironic.

[Anonymous]

That does suck for them.

[Anonymous]

That's science's way of saying, "Hey ..... you can't do that."

[Anonymous]

Not a smart project. They need to go back to Physics 101...

LC

[canazar]

QUOTE: Originally posted by coborn35

Isnt that ironic.

Man, you got that right. Guess they didnt see that one coming

[Chris30]

QUOTE: Several hundred townspeople from Young, about 235 miles west of the capital of Montevideo, were hauling a locomotive and two attached cars down a track _ pushing and pulling from different sides when some participants fell under the wheels, said a police department spokesman.

Everybody should remember this because this just might be Amtrak' s 2011 operating plan.

CC

[tree68]

Adds new meaning to the phrase "get out and push."

[trainfan1221]

There are better things to do for a charity drive. Using people to move a train is not one of them. These things still are very large and heavy, and something this dangerous shouldn't be attempted. As someone else stated, this is ironic considering the reason it was being done.

[csxengineer98]

great..now im sure the opporating rules department will come out with a new rule to keep us crews in the US safe form having this happen...
csx engineer