Over 70 injured as Paris train hits buffer

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — More than 70 people were injured on Thursday when a train carrying hundreds of rush-hour commuters hit the rail buffer of a Paris station, firefighters said.

The driver was held for questioning by police after the nine-carriage train carrying 600 passengers struck the buffer as it pulled into the Gare de l'Est station, in eastern Paris.

Roger, a 58-year-old commuter, said the train arrived at the station 15 minutes late and that many hurried passengers were standing up, ready to step off, when they were thrown to the floor by the impact.

"I was dozing... and then there was a sudden jolt," he told AFP. "A woman in front of me fell and hurt her knee. She was bleeding through her trousers."

A doctor with the Paris firefighters' service...