Members of the emergency services work next to a tram after it overturned injuring and trapping some passengers in Croydon, south London, Britain November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall
LONDON: Several passengers were killed in a tram derailment in south London on Wednesday, emergency services said.
More than 50 others were hospitalized when the two-coach tram came off the tracks and ended on its side around 6.10 a.m. local time (0610GMT) in the suburb of Croydon.
At least five passengers trapped inside a carriage had to be rescued. A spokesman for the British Transport Police told the Evening Standard newspaper there had been “some loss of life” while the Daily Mail newspaper reported on its website that up to eight had been killed.
“A number of people have been taken to hospital with injuries sustained in the incident and sadly there has been some loss of life,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear although there was torrential rain across London overnight.
Local resident Hannah Collier described hearing a “massive crash”. She told the BBC: “I heard people shouting and then the emergency services arriving. Later I saw at least one person being brought out on a stretcher.”
