Susanna and Richard Madeley were on the ITV show from 6am til 9am on Tuesday October 22, as they discussed a tragedy in Wales which saw a train crash unfold last night

Susanna Reid halts ITV Good Morning Britain to announce tragic 'breaking news'

by · Birmingham Live

Susanna Reid has halted ITV Good Morning Britain to deliver sombre tragic breaking news. Susanna and Richard Madeley were on the ITV show from 6am til 9am on Tuesday October 22, as they discussed a tragedy in Wales which saw a train crash unfold last night.

Susanna began: "Good morning; it is eight o'clock, and breaking news this morning. A Large-scale emergency services operation, including fire and rescue and the coastguard, is underway in Wales following a rail collision involving two trains."

Richard continued: "One man has died, and another 15 were injured when the Transport for Wales service to and from Shrewsbury crashed on a single track line last night." Investigators were at the scene near the village of Llanbrynmair in Powys on Tuesday morning to try to establish why the trains had collided on the line, a single-track section.

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The incident took place close to a passing loop on the largely single-track Cambrian line, where one train should stop and the other proceeds at low speed on a small loop of track. Anthony Hurford, who had been travelling to Shrewsbury, told BBC Breakfast: “The word that keeps coming to my head is just brutal really.

"Just going from, I don’t know how fast we were going, maybe 40, 50, 60 miles an hour, to nothing in the blink of an eye. Somehow my body bent the leg of a table and ripped it off its bolts attached to the wall. Suddenly I was on the floor with my laptop strewn ahead of me wondering what the hell had happened.

“We tried to stop at the lights. At the top of the hill there’s a signal that I guess would’ve been a passing place and for whatever reason the train wouldn’t stop. There must’ve been 30, 40 people from fire [service], there was British Transport Police who had come from Birmingham, there were three helicopters, people had come from north and south Wales as far as I’m aware. I was checked by three or four different medics.”

A joint statement from Network Rail and Transport for Wales said: “At 7.29pm on Monday 21 October, two TfW trains were involved in a low-speed collision near Llanbrynmair in Powys, mid Wales. Sadly, one passenger has passed away, and a number of other people are being treated for injuries at nearby hospitals. Our first thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the man who has lost his life, as well as all the other people involved in this incident.

“The Cambrian railway east of Machynlleth will be closed while specialist teams continue their investigations, and we urge passengers not to travel to this part of the network. We’re extremely grateful to the emergency services who attended the scene and helped our passengers and staff in challenging circumstances.

“We are working closely with other agencies, including emergency services, to understand how this incident happened and they will have our full support.”