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Summary Engineer who operated locomotive says he reported brake problems to supervisors.
Faulty brakes caused the train accident in Buenos Aires that killed 51 people on Wednesday, an engineer operating the locomotive has said, according to an Argentine judicial source.Marco Cordoba, who is being investigated by police but is free after being treated, said on Saturday he had repeatedly warned the brakes were defective.He told police he reported brake problems to his supervisors but that he was ordered to continue the trip that ended in the third worst rail accident in Argentine history.Cordoba was free after authorities determined he represented no flight risk and there is no possibility he might hinder the investigation, the judicial source said.At least 703 people were injured when the commuter train, carrying about 2,000 people, crashed into a bumper at Buenos Aires Terminal 11.Argentines who lost relatives in the crash and many commuters were furious that the government appeared to ignore repeated warnings about problems with the countrys trains.Relatives of the 51st victim, whose body was recovered on Saturday though initially it did not appear on any lists of the dead or injured, kept vigil at the train station and threw objects at passing buses and taxis.An Argentine association that represents government employees accused the government on Friday of letting passenger rail infrastructure fall into disrepair.
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