Female cleaner steals train, derails it and crashes into an exclusive Swedish apartment block 20-year-old cleaner stole train and crashed it into apartment in Stockholm Failed to stop in exclusive suburb and went 'off-rail' for 100ft before crash Thief stuck inside wreckage for two hours and suffered serious injuries
By Sara Malm PUBLISHED:12:03 GMT, 15 January 2013| UPDATED: 13:37 GMT, 15 January 2013
A 20-year-old female cleaner suffered severe injuries after stealing a commuter train and driving it straight into an apartment building in Stockholm, Sweden.
The young woman appears to have been unable to stop the train once she reached the end of the line in the exclusive suburb of the Swedish capital at around 2.30am this morning.
The woman was going at such speed that the train continued for nearly 100 feet off-rail before it smashed into the apartment house where three families were asleep.
Going off the rails: The stolen train carried on after the tracks finished - and crashed into the apartment house located in an exclusive part of Stockholm
The train-thief was trapped inside the driver's cabin for two hours before emergency services were able to cut her from the wreckage.
She was conscious but suffered serious injuries and had to be airlifted to Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.
The train was empty and stationary at the time of the theft and none of the five adults reportedly in the house at the time of the accident were hurt.
Train operators Arriva said the woman, who was employed by an external cleaning company, 'really put her foot down'.
‘The train drove straight through the barrier, so it must have been going a lot faster than these trains normally do,’ spokesman for Stockholms Lokaltrafik Fredrik Cavalli-Björkman said, adding that at normal speed, the train would have been blocked by the buffer stop.
Unconventional alarm: Five people were asleep inside the building when the train smashed into a kitchen at around 2.30am, none were injured
Trapped: The 20-year-old cleaner was stuck inside the wreckage for two hours and had to be taken to hospital where she is in a stable condition
Full frontal: The train was empty of passengers and stationary when it was stolen at 2am Tuesday morning
He added: ‘The trains should not be out and about this late. We are investigating what had happened, who has got the key and access to these trains.’
'It's like something out of a movie,' said police spokesman Robert Heurgren. 'We received notification of a missing train early on Tuesday morning and the next thing it is found smashed into a home.'
Viking public transport: Despite snow and the derailed train, service on the line returned to normal this morning
Police commander Ulf Lindgren said: 'The fact that we’re not dealing with a more serious accident is absolutely unbelievable, both for those who were inside the building and on the train.
'It’s incredible lucky that the situation isn't worse.'
It is not clear how the woman got hold of the keys to start the train’s engine, but a rail technician at the scene this morning told newspaper Expressen that one of his colleagues ‘lost the keys to this train, is in a bad state and is blaming himself’.
Non-stop: The house is located near the end of the line, but the train was going at such speed that it continued 100ft beyond the barrier and into a kitchen in the apartment building
End of the line: When the tracks finished, the train continued
Stuck in: Emergency services discuss how to begin the removal of the train, firmly embedded inside the building
First person at the scene was artist Richard Herrey, known as a third of 1984 Eurovision Song Contest winners Herrey’s, who lives nearby.
'I am shaking a little bit', he told Swedish newspaper Expressen. ‘It is a bit scary that a train can jump that far out and into a residential house.'
It was reported this morning that the woman is in a stable condition and at 9am Stockholm Police arrested her for destruction endangering the public.
Police and emergency workers are currently working on stabilising the apartment block to prevent the building's collapse before they can remove the wreckage.www.ddhw.com
