A tram derailed this Tuesday, October 29, in Oslo and ended up crashing into a store in the city center, a very rare accident that left four people injured and caused panic among passers-by.
The accident occurred late in the morning in a busy area of the Norwegian capital.
The tram – a recent model – that had to take a curve, for a still undetermined reason, left the tracks and ended up in an electronics store, a distributor of Apple products, on a corner.
“Three people on board the tram were injured and another outside,” Oslo police operations chief Anders Rønning said at the scene.
“No one is described as seriously injured,” he added, specifying that “one or two other people” had gone to the emergency room alone. According to him, “there were a lot of people on board.”
“A little hysterical”
Police initially named around twenty occupants, but a number of passengers had already left the scene by the time emergency services arrived. At least one passerby had to jump to avoid the tram.
The blue tram remained for several hours firmly embedded in the store, surrounded by broken glass, until a recovery truck removed it in the late afternoon.
“Fortunately, a derailment makes a lot of noise and several (people inside the store) had time to turn their heads and move,” explained Anders Rønning.
Julie Høgmo Madsen, 24, was at the back of the tram at the time of the incident.
“I heard it start to shake more than usual on the curve and realized we had derailed, and then it exploded,” he told Norwegian news agency NTB.
“People got a little hysterical and started screaming. I ran to the front of the tram and found someone who needed help and helped them,” he added.
“A powerful shock”
Another witness spoke of a “spectacular” scene. “A big hole formed in the façade and we had to help the passengers out,” André Norheim explained to the Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper.
“It’s just surreal. If everyone came out unharmed it’s because someone is watching us because, to say the least, it was a strong shock,” he continued.
The area was cordoned off, severely disrupting traffic in central Oslo. Numerous police vehicles and ambulances went to the scene.
At this time, the tram driver, who was also injured, has the status of suspect; The accident may have been the result of excessive speed.
“I don’t want to speculate,” said Anders Rønning. “We are working on the technical aspects to determine the cause of the accident,” he added.
Housing offices, the building in which the tram sank was evacuated. We had to wait for an expert to determine the condition of the load-bearing walls before we could carry out tram cleaning operations.
Source: BFM TV
