Richmond train crash witness says passengers were ‘flying through carriage like Superman’
PASSENGERS filmed the aftermath to the Richmond train crash which injured 16 people and saw some flying through the carriage “like Superman”.
NSW
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SHOCKING footage has emerged of the bloody aftermath inside the train that crashed into the buffer when it failed to stop at Richmond Station.
Passenger Bailey Hope filmed the footage on his phone after he hit his head while travelling in from Windsor to see friends.
He said there was “blood everywhere”.
“I was sitting on the train and it started to speed up. Apparently the brakes stopped.
“I seen blood everywhere. People on the ground.”
“I was in the middle area carriage.”
Jaiden Ruttley also took footage in the aftermath.
He said there was plenty of confusion during the crash.
“I was just sitting there and all of a sudden I went flying off my seat,” he said.
“I thought am I going to die.”
“It bounced back probably about eight foot off the barrier.
“Carriage five had gone into the back of carriage four and it came up like a pyramid and the ground shook.
“They were all standing up to get off and I just saw bodies flying everywhere.”
He described how the passengers in the train were just standing up “and then they were just like superman when it hit and they were just flying through the carriage”.
“I ran because I thought the carriage came up like that I thought it was going to come off the tracks and still a bit shook I just hope everybody is alright.”
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Blaxons Ridge resident Peggy Case, 53, was walking down the carriage steps with her husband Donald as the train pulled into Richmond Station.
“We were on the steps, there was no one near the doors or anything, it was just us two there,” she said.
“We were coming down and then next minute — bang. And then we went flying.”
“I got off but my husband was having trouble and two people helped him off. I don’t know how many people were carted off the train by ambulances — there was a couple of old people who were hurt bad.”
Ms Case was taken to Nepean Hospital in Kingswood with a head wound and gash on her arm that required seven stitches.
Her husband, who recently had a pacemaker installed after a heart valve replacement, remains at the hospital with injuries to his ribs and neck.
Ms Case said she was “too scared” to use trains after the incident.
Her daughter, also called Peggy, 33, helped in the aftermath of the incident.
“When I saw them at the scene I saw blood all over my Mum, Dad had oxygen on ... it was heart wrenching,” she said.
NSW Ambulance incident commander Superintendent Paul Turner said 15 patients had been transported by road ambulance to hospital, the most serious a 21-year-old male who suffered a suspected fractured leg.
The remaining patients suffered a range of injuries that are not serious, largely involving back and neck pain, cuts and bruising.
“No patients were trapped by compression, however several patients were classified as trapped as they were unable to leave the train without assistance from paramedics,” Supt Turner said.
“These people are very lucky, it was chaos, things could’ve been much much worse.”
Patients are being transported to four hospitals in the region — four to Westmead Hospital, five to Blacktown hospital, four to Nepean Hospital and two to Hawkesbury Hospital.
Supt Turner said a triage area was established in an adjoining park. “Despite the heat it’s still pretty comfortable as we have been able to treat under the shade of several trees
“The patients have been understandably shaken.”