More than 200 people have been injured when two metro light rail trains collided in an underground tunnel close to the Petronas Twin Towers in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
The incident occurred at about 8:45pm (12:45 GMT) on Monday 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.
Pictures circulating on social media showed injured passengers sprawled on the floor of a carriage, which was covered in glass.At least 47 people were severely hurt and 166 others sustained minor injuries, Abdullah 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 centre,” Abdullah said.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Facebook that the crash was “serious”.
The transport ministry said it would set up a task force to investigate the train collision, the New Straits Times (NST) reported.
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.
