Seven die in reality TV train tragedy

SEVEN residents of a Uruguayan town were killed after they fell under the wheels of a train they were moving manually as part of a reality television show aimed at raising funds for a local hospital.

Omar Lafluff, governor of Rio Negro province where the accident took place, declared four days of mourning. Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez said he felt “deep pain” and expressed his solidarity for the families of the victims.

Several hundred townspeople from Young, about 235 miles west of the capital of Montevideo, were hauling a locomotive and two attached cars down a track late on Friday when some participants fell under the wheels, said police spokesman Ramon Branca.