37 injured in streetcar collision in Bucharest

At least 37 persons were hurt in an accident in Lujerului Passage in Bucharest this morning, which involved four streetcars, Mediafax reported on its website, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. SMURD (emergency rescue service) coordinator Bogdan Oprita said that three of the victims are in a serious condition as they suffered brain injury. The others sustained different factures. Those injured include a child who was taken to Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital by an ambulance. Eight first aid teams and two intensive care teams were sent to the scene. The accident happened when a streetcar running on line 41 broke down in the passage, while another trolley coming after it could not brake in time and crashed into it. Two more streetcars running behind became involved afterward, said Andrei Codau, spokesman for the Bucharest Traffic Brigade. The four streetcars carried several hundred people. Many of them got into a panic. According to the Bucharest Autonomous Transport Company (RATB), the collision could not be avoided as the trolleys ran one after another at a small distance. RATB spokeswoman Brandusa Raeceanu said that the drivers of the three trolleys that followed the fist braked, but the distance was too small and the vehicles collided. It is not yet known if the passengers of the four streetcars included Moldovans.