French Railway Mistakenly Posts Accident Alert

Mistaken posts said that more than 100 people died in a train explosion.
French Railway Mistakenly Posts Accident Alert
3/16/2010
Updated:
3/16/2010

French National Railways (SNCF) accidently posted a notice to its site Tuesday morning saying that more than 100 people died in a train explosion in the eastern city of Macon in the Burgundy region.

According to the BBC, the French railway operator was conducting a training exercise for staff to learn how to respond to a massive rail accident when scenario details were accidentally posted on the operator’s site.

The notice said that an explosion on a high-speed TGV train on the Paris to Dijon line left 102 confirmed dead and 380 people injured. Journalists’ calls about the supposed explosion alerted SNCF of the mistake. A statement was later posted that confirmed no accident had occurred. SNCF said the training drill was important to ensure the safety of rail passengers.