Argentina: Several people have been killed and some 550 injured in a commuter train crash at a station in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.

Local reporters say they saw 12 bodies removed from the wreckage, with dozens of people still trapped.

The train slammed into the barrier at the end of the platform at the Once station in the west of the city.

The injured driver and some passengers were taken away on stretchers, with the first carriage the worst affected.

The transportation secretary, JP Schiavi, told reporters at the station that the commuter train had hit the barrier at about 12mph (20km/h), destroying the front of the engine and crunching the carriages behind it.

One of the carriages was driven nearly six metres (20ft) into the next, he said.

"There are people still trapped, people alive," Mr Schiavi said.

Survivors told the TeleNoticias channel that many people had been injured in a jumble of metal and glass.

Some suffered fractures and other serious injuries.

In September 2011, 11 people died when a commuter train in Buenos Aires hit a bus crossing the tracks and then hit a second train coming into a station.

Reproduced under licence from BBC News © 2012 BBC