Paris Train Crash: Seven Dead As Death Toll Climbs
Seven people have reportedly been killed in a train crash at Paris' Bretigny-sur-Orge station on Friday as the masses begin their vacation for the country's most popular holiday, Bastille Day.
Reports indicate that the 385-passenger train partially derailed Friday evening around 5:15 p.m. as it was passing the Bretigny-sur-Orge station, located about 12 miles south of Paris.
The train was en route to Limoges, a town about 250 miles from the country's capitol.
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Video footage from local news stations showed extensive wreckage to the Bretigny-sur-Orge station, as the train crashed into the station and derailed onto passenger platforms below.
According to Guillaume Pepy, chief of France's nationwide railway system SNCF, car numbers 3 and 4 initially derailed, pushing the other cars off of the track at the station.
"Some cars simply derailed, others are leaning, others fell over," Pepy told Fox News, adding that the entire train had split into two parts.
Pepy added to Reuters that officials are still unsure of what caused the four car pile-up.
"We do not know the cause of the derailment yet," Pepy said while holding a press conference at the scene of the incident.
President Francoise Hollande visited the crash Friday evening, canceling the previous plans he had in Paris.
According to The New York Times, this is the worst train accident in the country in the past 25 years.
Reports on the death toll have differed, with some reporting that six were killed as a result of Friday's crash and others reporting that seven or more had passed.
"The death toll is evolving constantly at this point and unfortunately it will probably rise," Interior Minister Manuel Valls said, according to Reuters.
"At this stage there are seven people dead, several dozen wounded and some of them are serious," Valls added.
Social media and local news stations showed photos of children standing alone near the train looking for their parents, and one particularly dramatic photo shows one of the cars completely smashed and leaning off the tracks.
According to officials, each car of the train will need to be individually inspected to see if any victims remain lodged in the vessel.
