KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – More than 200 people were injured in Malaysia on Monday when two metro light rail trains collided in an underground tunnel close to the Petronas Twin Towers in the capital Kuala Lumpur, officials said.
The incident occurred at around 8.45 p.m. (1245 GMT) when one of the trains, which was empty after being repaired, collided head-on with another train carrying 213 passengers travelling in the opposite direction on the same track, district police chief Mohamad Zainal Abdullah said.
Forty-seven people were severely hurt and 166 others sustained minor injuries, he told reporters. The crash occurred in a section of tunnel about 100 metres (330 feet) away from the KLCC station outside the Petronas towers.
“We are still investigating the incident…, but we suspect that perhaps there was a miscommunication from the trains’ operations control center,” Mohamad Zainal said.
Videos and photos of the incident posted on social media showed several bleeding commuters and broken glass panels inside the trains, operated by Prasarana Malaysia Berhad.
Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said the collision was the first major accident in the metro system’s 23 years of operation, and he pledged a thorough investigation.
The 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
