A commuter train crashed at a busy central station in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, killing 49 passengers and injuring more than 600 people, the deadliest in a series of train accidents in Argentina over the past year.

The train, which runs from the ring of urban areas that surround greater Buenos Aires, crashed at about 8:30 a.m. at its final stop at the Once Station, not far from downtown Buenos Aires.

The train was carrying more than 800 passengers and traveling at an estimated 16 miles per hour when it entered the station, slamming into the barrier of the platform, destroying the engine.

“It is a very serious accident,” Juan Pablo Schiavi, the national secretary of transportation, said in his initial assessment of the crash during a televised press conference outside the Once Station. Mr. Schiavi said brake failure was the suspected cause.

“The train hit the bumper,” Mr. Schiavi said, “causing one car to crumple into another.” He said one car pierced into another by nearly 20 feet.

The injured were taken to hospitals in the vicinity, Dr. Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, said on Argentine television on Wednesday. He said around midday that about 30 people were trapped in the wreckage.

Passengers told the local news media that the train, which is operated by the private company Trenes de Buenos Aires, was traveling faster than normal and had struggled to slow down when braking at stations ahead of Once Station.

Trenes de Buenos Aires said in a statement that the reasons for the crash had not been determined, though the company acknowledged that the train “wasn’t able to stop.”

Video footage of the crash taken by people at the scene showed people walking along the platform, with screams audible. People were pulling others out of the wreckage.

Last September, a commuter train on the same line crashed into a passenger bus and hit a second train at the Flores Station, killing 11 and injuring more than 200. The bus had crossed the tracks when the barrier was down. In February 2011, four people were killed in a collision of two trains.

【新聞快訊】根據(jù)新華網(wǎng)報(bào)道，阿根廷首都布宜諾斯艾利斯22日發(fā)生一起城鐵列車和站臺(tái)相撞出軌事故，目前已造成至少49人死亡，逾600人受傷。這是布宜諾斯艾利斯市近82年來最嚴(yán)重的鐵路交通事故。

布宜諾斯艾利斯警方發(fā)言人費(fèi)爾南多·索斯特雷說，當(dāng)天薩緬托線上的一列城鐵列車在進(jìn)入終點(diǎn)第11區(qū)站時(shí)突然失去控制無法剎車撞上站臺(tái)。事故已造成至少49人死亡，死者中包括一名兒童。事故還造成600多人受傷，其中部分傷者傷勢(shì)嚴(yán)重。

中國(guó)駐阿根廷大使館稱，事件中有三名中國(guó)公民受輕傷，在接受治療后已自行離開醫(yī)院。阿根廷司法部門和城鐵公司已對(duì)事故原因展開調(diào)查。由于設(shè)備老化、道口眾多等原因，阿根廷的城鐵線路經(jīng)常發(fā)生交通事故。