Photos: Swedish Cleaning Lady Steals Train and Crashes it into Family Home [VIDEO]
By Umberto Bacchi | Jan 15, 2013 11:39 AM EDT
A Swedish cleaning lady stole a train and crashed it into a family home on the outskirts of Stockholm.
The woman, reportedly in her twenties, was the only person injured, despite three families being in the building at the time.
"It's incredibly lucky that no one in the house was injured," police spokesman Ulf Lindgren told TT news agency.
The woman broke into the driver's compartment of an empty train at a depot in Stockholm and drove it on to the local Slussen-Saltsjobaden line.
At the last stop, she barrelled through the bufferrs and the train smashed through the first-floor kitchen of a two-storey building.
It took two hours for a rescue team to pull the women out of the wreckage. She was suffering from serious injuries and was flown by helicopter to the Karolinska University Hospital.
Five people from three families were sleeping inside the house. They were evacuated as a safety measure.
"The train must have been going much faster than it normally does," Fredrik Cavalli-Björkman, a spokesperson for Stockholm public transport operator SL, said.
"She [the driver] was a cleaner. Somehow she managed to get in and steal one of the trains. We're investigating how it could have happened," Tomas Hedenius, a spokesman for subcontractor Arriva, said.
The woman is facing charges of public devastation.
Local train that derailed and crashed into a residential building in Saltsjobaden is seen outside Stockholm
Source: Reuters
Police officers stand around a local train that derailed and crashed into a residential building in Saltsjobaden
Source: Reuters
The train allegedly stolen by a cleaning lady derailed at about 3:00 am
Source: Reuters
