A clear picture of the horror of one of Mexico's worst train disasters is just beginning to emerge.

So far, the death toll in the crash which occurred on Friday (6 October) stands at 161 and more than 1000 people are injured, some of them critically.

All hopes of finding more survivors in the twisted wreckage have been abandoned. Rescue workers, wielding axes and acetylene torches, now only expect to find more bodies. In all, there were more than 1500 people aboard the train.

The train was derailed just before reaching a wooden bridge in the midst of fruit orchards and vineyards outside Saltillo. The train was bringing about 1500 holidaymakers back to Saltillo who'd been taking part in a fiesta in a nearby mining town. There was no sign of sabotage, and it's believed the train had been travelling too fast at the time of the crash.

SYNOPSIS: The wreckage of one of Mexico's worst train crashes. At least one-hundred-and-sixty-one people have died, and more than one-thousand were injured when a train carrying fifteen-hundred holidaymakers was derailed near Saltillo. Rescue workers have been digging frantically into the wreckage, but senior police feel it's unlikely that more survivors will be found. Rescue workers expect to find only bodies. It was Mexico's worst train crash since 1948 when two-hundred people die in Queretaro.

It's only now, more than twenty-four hours after the crash, that the real horror of the tragedy is becoming evident. For the rescue workers, the dying, presented poignant scenes as priests administered the last rites. It was a scene which was to be repeated many times....
There was no sign of sabotage, and it's believed the train was travelling too fast at the time of the crash.