| Piquet Carneiro train crash | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | December 17, 1951 | 
| Location | Piquet Carneiro | 
| Country | Brazil | 
| Line | Fortaleza - Crato[1] | 
| Operator | Rede Ferroviária do Nordeste | 
| Incident type | Derailment | 
| Cause | Excess speed | 
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 | 
| Deaths | 53 | 
The Piquet Carneiro train crash, occurred on the December 17, 1951 at Piquet Carneiro in the state of Ceará in northeast Brazil and left 53 dead[2] (some sources 'around 100'[3]).
The diesel train had left Crato the previous day, spending the night at Iguatu which it left at 5 a.m. The train derailed due to 'excessive speed'[4] later that morning near Piquet Carneiro station. Many were trapped in the wreckage; the local medical staff were overwhelmed and a shortage of equipment meant that carpenters saws were used to perform amputations without anaesthetic to free them.[3][4]
A monument to the victims of the disaster was erected at the scene of the accident by the local church with the support of the town authorities; it was restored in 2009.[3][5]
References
- ↑ http://www.estacoesferroviarias.com.br/ce_crato/indice.htm RVC - Linha Sul, Linha Norte e ramais -- Estações Ferroviárias do Estado do Ceará
 - ↑ Railway Wrecks by Edgar A. Haine, page 146, publ 1993, ISBN 0-8453-4844-2
 - 1 2 3 http://www.informegeracao.com/2009/05/pelos-caminhos-da-historia-1.html Pelos Caminhos da História: O TREM DA MORTE
 - 1 2 http://www.estacoesferroviarias.com.br/ce_crato/piquet.htm Piquet Carneiro -- Estações Ferroviárias do Estado do Ceará
 - ↑ http://paroquiacoracaojesus.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html Paróquia de Piquet Carneiro: terça-feira, 10 de novembro de 2009
 
External links
- Blog do Ralph Giesbrecht: TRENS DE PASSAGEIROS: DE VOLTA? (In Portuguese language, contains several excerpts from newspapers of the day).