Seven dead, over 100 injuredLONDON, England (AP) - Police yesterday searched the site of a train crash that killed seven people and seriously injured 11 for clues to what caused a car to be on the tracks as the high-speed train approached.

About half of the 300 passengers on the crowded train suffered minor injuries.

An off-duty police officer who witnessed the incident west of London on Saturday said the car was stopped on a crossing in the village of Ufton Nervet when automatic barriers on either side of the tracks came down.

The officer tried to alert train operators by using an emergency phone at the crossing, but the locomotive struck the car before he could get through, said Andy Trotter, Deputy Chief Constable of the British Transport Police. The train's eight carriages and two engines were derailed.

The drivers of the train and the car and four train passengers were killed in the crash at about 6:30 pm (1830GMT) Saturday, Thames Valley Police said.

A seventh person died of his injuries yesterday, said the Royal Berkshire Hospital, which was treating many of the injured.
Investigators were examining the car wreckage to determine whether the vehicle had stopped because of a mechanical fault, or whether the driver was trying to commit suicide.

"We never jump to conclusions, but obviously this is a major line of inquiry when you get such unusual behaviour," Trotter said. "We won't make any assumptions."
More than 20 ambulances and 14 fire engines rushed to the scene, 58 kilometres (36 miles) west of London.

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