- La Trochita train derailed this Saturday in the province of Río Negro, Argentina
A British man is fighting for his life after an old steam train carrying dozens of tourists derailed while crossing an Argentine mountain range.
La Trochita, an emblematic tourist train known in English as the Old Patagonian Express, derailed on Saturday while transporting 53 people in the province of Río Negro.
Among the tourists, who were mostly american, four were injured and were transferred to different hospitals in the region.
A British man was taken to the Ingeniero Jacobacci hospital where he was initially treated for minor bruises and bruises. He was then transferred to the Bariloche Zonal Hospital for CT scans.
But on Sunday morning, local authorities reported his condition had worsened. The unnamed man was admitted to the intensive care unit due to a cardiac arrhythmia, where a cardiac evaluation was performed. No new reports have been submitted so far.
The historic La Trochita derailed on Saturday in the province of Río Negro with 53 people on board
A British man was taken to the hospital in the city of Ingeniero Jacobacci where he was initially treated for minor bruises and bruises.
But on Sunday morning, local authorities reported that his health condition worsened.
The accident occurred just under four miles from Río Chico. At that time, the train had 53 foreign passengers on board who were referred to different health centers in El Maitén and Ingeniero Jacobacci.
According to locals sourcesThe accident occurred due to the loss of tracks on the land, although the official cause is still unknown.
Normally, La Trochita provides service between Ingeniero Jacobacci and the Ojos de Agua station, where it usually arrives at 1:15 p.m. But foreign tourists had contracted a special route to Ñorquinco, 100 kilometers from the departure station.
The formation derailed between Mamuel Choique and Río Chico, in the heart of the Rio Negro steppe, a region that today is experiencing a great drop in temperature and strong winds.
On the tourist route, a group of guides tells the history of the train, and there is usually a musician who tours the carriages, in one of which there is a small cafe.
According local news sourcesThis is not the first time that the service has suffered an accident.
At the beginning of last September, another service provided by the company between the cities of Viedma and Bariloche was derailed.
A few kilometers from arriving in Bariloche, the formation derailed very close to the Perito Moreno station. At that time there were no serious injuries, although all passengers had to be evacuated and taken by van to this city.
The service was suspended for 15 days while the route between Pilcaniyeu and Bariloche was reconditioned.
