British police voiced astonishment on Sunday that so many people survived a high-speed crash of a 300-passenger train that rammed into a car at a rail crossing, killing six people. "It is quite remarkable ... if you look at the scene ... which is a scene of some great devastation, that so many people managed to escape from such an awful event," deputy chief constable Andy Trotter of British Transport Police said.
The train ploughed into the car and flew off the rails in southern England on Saturday. Police said one of the six killed was in the car but declined comment on speculation the motorist may have been trying to commit suicide.
"An off-duty Thames Valley police officer saw the car go onto the level crossing and saw the barriers fall. The car remained on the crossing and he saw the train hit the car," Trotter said.
Rail analysts said the train from London's Paddington station to Plymouth in western England would have been travelling at 100mph as it approached the crossing and passengers said it braked hard just before the crash.
There was no indication that infrastructure failure or railway staff were responsible for the crash.