Businessmen, officials jailed for Argentina train crash

A court in Argentina sentenced 21 people including an ex-railway company boss and two former state officials to jail Tuesday for a train crash that killed 51 people in 2012.

Judges handed a three-and-a-half year sentence to the driver of the train that ploughed into the buffers at a rail terminal in Buenos Aires with 1,200 passengers on board.

But they reserved the longest sentences for the businessman who ran the Buenos Aires Trains company (TBA) and for two former senior transport officials.

A judge in the court announced a nine-year sentence for Claudio Cirigliano, head of TBA, for "fraudulent administration and culpable harm."

The court also sentenced former state transport secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi to eight years and his predecessor Ricardo Jaime to six years.

Various other state officials and transport entrepreneurs were also sentenced for crimes including negligence and mismanagement.

The court said the businessmen and state officials bore greater responsibility than the driver, Marco Cordoba.

The driver had said the train's brakes failed but technical evidence showed that other safety procedures were not carried out.

As well as the 51 people killed, 789 were injured in the crash in February 2012. The disaster prompted then president Cristina Kirchner to nationalize and modernize Argentina's rail network.

The court said it would release full details of the ruling in 2016.