Hitrino train derailment

Last updated
Hitrino train derailment
Shumen in Bulgaria.svg
Location of Shumen Province in Bulgaria
Details
Date10 December 2016
05:37 EET (03:37 UTC)
Location Hitrino, Shumen Province
CountryBulgaria
Line Varna-Ruse line
Operator Bulmarket
Incident typeTrain Derailment
CauseUnder investigation
Statistics
Trains1 (2 locomotives, 26 tank cars)
Crew3
Deaths7 [1]
Injured29
Damage~ 20 houses destroyed, ~ 3 000 windows destroyed

On 10 December 2016, a freight train derailed, exploded and caught fire in the village of Hitrino in Shumen Province, Bulgaria, killing at least seven people and injuring 29 others.

Contents

Accident

At 05:37 local time (03:37 UTC) on 10 December 2016, [2] a Bulmarket freight train travelling from Burgas to Ruse derailed in Hitrino, Shumen Province, Bulgaria. The train has changed direction of travel in Karnobat and Sindel; has passed through Aytos, Velichkovo, Dalgopol, Provadiya, Kaspichan, Pliska, Velino . Upon entering the area of the railway station cunningly the freight private train, according to the order of the on-duty railway traffic manager, was diverted to a side (parallel to the main track) track - presumably in order to free the main track which had to be temporarily used to pass its oncoming moving train coming from the railway station of Samuel . Kaspichan-Samuel-Ruse railway line is a single . Was to pass at a speed of up to 40 km/h (27 miles/hour) through the diverting element of the railway arrow,actually passing at 78 km/h (52 miles/hour) .The company specialises in transport of fuels over rail and road. Two of the waggons, which were carrying propane-butane and propylene, struck a power line pole, exploded and caught fire, [3] [4] engulfing at least fifty buildings, [5] one of which collapsed, trapping several children. The three train drivers (two in the lead and the third driver in the second electric locomotive) survived the accident. [3] Seven people were killed [6] and 29 injured. [7] An evacuation of the village was ordered as 150 firefighters fought the blaze; [8] it was extinguished by midday. [2] The injured were taken to hospitals in Shumen and Varna; [4] some of them had sustained burns to 90% of their bodies. [3]

It was reported that sparks had been seen coming from the locomotive of the train immediately before the accident, possibly indicative of heavy braking. [9]

Background

The incident occurred on the oldest railway line in Bulgaria, connecting the country's main riverine port on the Danube in the city of Ruse and the main port on the Black Sea in Varna. The line was built during Ottoman rule by British private investors in the 1860s. The railway station in Hitrino was also the site of the first railway accident in Bulgaria in 1866.

The train operator Bulmarket Rail Cargo was founded in 2004 and in the same year acquired a license for railway operations. It operates second-hand Danish (Class 86) and British (Class 87) electric locomotives like those involved in the incident (lead locomotive nr.86.003 and second locomotive nr.87.025), as its mainline motive rolling stock, as well as diesel-hydraulic locomotives for shunting duties. Bulmarket DM, the mother corporation of Bulmarket Rail Cargo, has its headquarters and main base of operations, with its own railway yard, Bulmarket Port and fuel storage facilities, in the city of Ruse.

Investigation

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor opened an investigation into the accident. [6] The owner of Bulmarket DM, Stanko Stankov, expressed his intention to involve an international team of railway incident experts from France, Germany and the Czech Republic to execute an independent investigation into the case. [10] This was rebutted by the Attorney General's Office; it issued a statement that according to Bulgarian law such an investigation has absolutely no legal basis and justification, because the Attorney General's Office (Главна Прокуратура) and its special division for investigation of severe crimes and incidents — the National Inquiry Service (Национална Следствена Служба) — are the only legal bodies authorized by the country's laws to execute such investigations. On that basis, the police authorities guarding the perimeter denied access to the crash site to technical experts involved by the train operator. [11] Residents were not allowed into their homes as a state of emergency was declared, but volunteers were allowed to be in Hitrino. Bullmarket DM also had to remove cisterns within 15 days. [12]

According to the State Agency for National Security (semi-autonomous agency within the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior, tasked with counter-terrorism, counter-espionage and high-profile corruption cases) the probable trigger for the incident was a railroad switch that had not been properly secured. [13]

The investigators from the National Inquiry Service of the Attorney General's Office found that upon derailment at the railroad switch a crash between the fifth and sixth tank wagons led to the towing hook of one of them causing a rupture in the lower frontal part of the gas tank of the other. The discharged gas fumes from the liquid gas reached a bakery located in immediate proximity to the railway station, and its furnaces ignited them, causing the violent explosion. [14] According to ammunition experts, the chain of events led to an equivalent of an oversized thermobaric weapon with blasting energy four to five times greater than the TNT-equivalent. [15]

Reactions

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov visited the scene. He called for people to donate blood as there was a shortage in the local hospitals. [3] Local response alleviated the shortages. [6] Bulgarian Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski also visited the site, along with top rail officials. [16] A national day of mourning was declared for 12 December 2016. [7]

The Bulgarian Government announced that a fund of 10 million leva (€5.1 million) was to be made available following a special Cabinet meeting on 12 December. The money would be distributed in two ways: 5 million leva (€2.55 million) would go to the Hitrino Municipality, and the other 5 million leva (€2.55 million) would go to the Labour and Social Policy Ministry. The Interior Ministry stated that people who had lost identity documents, passports and driving licences in the fire would have them replaced free of charge. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in Bulgaria</span> Overview of transport in Bulgaria

Transport in Bulgaria is dominated by road transport, despite nearly half of all paved roads belonging to the lowest category of roads. As of December 2015, the country had 829 kilometers of highways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan Railways</span> Pakistani state-owned railway company

Pakistan Railways is the national, state-owned railway company of Pakistan in Lahore. Founded in 1861 as the North Western State Railway and headquartered in Lahore, it owns 7,791 kilometres of operational track across Pakistan, stretching from Torkham to Karachi, offering both freight and passenger services, covering 625 stations across Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 66</span> Class of diesel electric locomotives

The Class 66 is a type of six-axle diesel-electric freight locomotive developed in part from the Class 59, for use on the railways of the UK. Since its introduction the class has been successful and has been sold to British and other European railway companies. In Continental Europe it is marketed as the EMD Class 66 (JT42CWR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 Mississauga train derailment</span> 1979 industrial disaster in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

The Mississauga train derailment, also known as the Mississauga Miracle, occurred on November 10, 1979, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, when a CP Rail freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire. More than 200,000 people were evacuated in the largest peacetime evacuation in North America until Hurricane Katrina. The fire was caused by a failure of the lubricating system. No deaths resulted from the incident.

Kaspichan is a town in central northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen Province. It is located in the eastern Danubian Plain, some 70 km (43 mi) from the major Black Sea port Varna and around 120 km (75 mi) from the key Danube ports of Ruse and Silistra. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,260 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DSB Class EA</span> Danish railways electric locomotive

The DSB Class EA was the first electric locomotive in Denmark, introduced in 1984. Twenty-two were built for DSB, about half were acquired by Deutsche Bahn in 2001 when it took over the freight business of DSB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Chelopechene explosions</span>

The 2008 Chelopechene explosions were a series of explosions that began early on Thursday morning 3 July 2008 at around 6:30 am local time at a munitions depot in the suburb of Chelopechene, 10 kilometres east of the centre of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The initial explosions were powerful enough to be heard in the entire capital and surrounding villages. The depot was part of a military facility that specialised in dismantling obsolete ammunition.

Hitrino is a village in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Hitrino Municipality, which lies in the northwestern part of the province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viareggio train derailment</span> 2009 derailment and train fire in Italy

The Viareggio derailment was the derailment and subsequent fire of a freight train carrying liquefied petroleum gas. It occurred on 29 June 2009 in a railway station in Viareggio, Lucca, a city in Central Italy's Tuscany region. Thirty-two people were killed and a further twenty-six were injured.

Rail World is a rail transport holding company. Its specialties include railway management, consulting, investment, privatizations, and restructurings. Its purpose is to promote rail industry privatization by bringing together government bodies wishing to sell their stakes with investment capital and management skills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lac-Mégantic rail disaster</span> 2013 oil train crash in Québec, Canada

The Lac-Mégantic rail disaster occurred in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, Canada, on July 6, 2013, at approximately 1:14 a.m. EDT, when an unattended 73-car Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA) freight train carrying Bakken Formation crude oil rolled down a 1.2% grade from Nantes and derailed downtown, resulting in the explosion and fire of multiple tank cars. Forty-seven people were killed. More than thirty buildings in Lac-Mégantic's town centre were destroyed, and all but three of the thirty-nine remaining buildings had to be demolished due to petroleum contamination. Initial newspaper reports described a 1 km (0.6-mile) blast radius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Burkhardt</span> American railroad executive

Edward Arnold Burkhardt is a railroad executive, the founder and current chairman of Rail World Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Europhoenix</span>

Europhoenix is a spot-hire railway locomotive company in England. In addition to the hiring out of locomotives to various other operators across the United Kingdom, it commonly exports former British Rail rolling stock to operators in mainland Europe.

The rail war began in different regions of Russia in the spring of 2022 after a similar rail war in Belarus.

References

  1. ↑ "Death Toll of Bulgaria's Hitrino Blast Reversed to 7". Novinite.com. Sophia News Agency. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 "AFP: 7 killed in blast as Bulgaria gas train derails". Focus News Agency. 10 December 2016. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Five killed in Bulgarian explosion following train derailment". Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Ltd. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Хитрино: преди и след взрива" [Hitrino: before and after the explosion] (in Bulgarian). Capital. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  5. ↑ Gigova, Radina (10 December 2016). "Bulgaria train derailment: 5 killed in blast". CNN. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 "Death Toll of Bulgaria's Hitrino Blast Rises to 7". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Five killed as cargo train explodes in Bulgaria". Reuters. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "At least four people die after train explodes in Bulgaria". Associated Press. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "Bulgarian Transport Minister on Hitrino train explosion: Sparks were seen coming from locomotive". Sofia Globe. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  10. ↑ телевизия, Нова. "УПРАВИТЕЛЯТ НА "БУЛМАРКЕТ": Искам да стигнем до причините за страшния инцидент". Nova.bg.
  11. ↑ ""Булмаркет": Властите не допускат в Хитрино чужди експерти по жп катастрофи". Mediapool.bg. 13 December 2016.
  12. ↑ "State of Emergency Remains in Force in Bulgaria's Hitrino - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency" . Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  13. ↑ "ДАНС: Стрелката е вероятна причина за катастрофата в Хитрино".
  14. ↑ "Скъсана връзка между две цистерни довела до ада в Хитрино | Dnes.bg".
  15. ↑ "Eксперт: Взривът в Хитрино е в резултат на концентрация на газ или частици". 7 February 2023.
  16. ↑ "Bulgarian freight train derails and explodes, killing five". BBC News. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  17. ↑ "Bulgarian government grants 10M leva to assist blast-hit Hitrino village". Sofia Globe. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

43°25′34″N26°54′33″E / 43.4262°N 26.9093°E / 43.4262; 26.9093

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.