Driver charged over Buenos Aires train crash

Picture released by NA showing the commuter train that apparently failed to stop and crashed at the end of the line at the Once railway terminal in Buenos Aires, on October 19, 2013. The driver of a train that crashed in Buenos Aires injuring al
Picture released by NA showing the commuter train that apparently failed to stop and crashed at the end of the line at the Once railway terminal in Buenos Aires, on October 19, 2013. The driver of a train that crashed in Buenos Aires injuring almost 100 people has been charged, after video footage showed him apparently dozing off at the wheel. -- FILE PHOTO: AFP

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - The driver of a train that crashed in Buenos Aires injuring almost 100 people has been charged, after video footage showed him apparently dozing off at the wheel.

Julio Cesar Benitez, 45 "was arrested after being interrogated Monday night and was charged for severe damage due to negligence" a judicial source, who requested anonymity, told AFP on Tuesday.

A video released by the Judicial Information Center of the Supreme Court shows Benitez dozing and yawning several times during a journey between the Argentine capital's populous western suburbs and the end of the line at Once train station.

Benitez suffered multiple injuries when the train apparently failed to stop Saturday morning, leaving some of its cars on the platform instead of the track. At least 99 people were injured.

"The memories that I have of the event are blurred. I have some memories, but then others I cannot be sure of having occurred," Benitez told judge Ariel Lijo, according to local media.

The driver had to be rescued by police while angry passengers blamed him for having "fallen asleep." The incident occurred at the same station where 51 people died and 700 were injured in February 2012, when a train slammed into a retaining wall.

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