MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) - A train carrying weekend visitors to South Africa slammed into a freight train parked at a station in southern Mozambique on Saturday, killing 196 people and injuring hundreds more. Authorities were investigating the cause of the crash, and one official said it appeared to be human error. "Dead bodies were lying all over," Antonio Cevere, who was traveling on the passenger train, told Radio Mozambique. Cevere was injured in the crash and said he was amazed to have survived. Rescue workers with tractors and construction equipment were trying to free people trapped in the train's twisted wreckage, and officials said the death toll could rise further in what was already the worst train disaster in the history of this impoverished southern African nation of 18 million people. President Joachim Chissano declared the accident a national tragedy and called on people to donate blood for the injured and support those who had lost their families. The crash took place at about 5 a.m. when the passenger train, which can hold more than 1,000 people, barreled into the back of the freight train at a station in the town of Moamba, about 40 miles south of the capital, Maputo. It was unclear how fast the passenger train was going. The freight train was carrying cement. The two trains had been attached when they left Maputo, but split up at a station outside the city. The freight train continued on to Moamba, with the passenger train following later. The passenger train was heading to Ressano Garcia on the border with South Africa — a popular weekend trip for Mozambicans going shopping in South Africa. Health Minister Franscisco Songane said 192 people were killed and another 400 were injured. He expected the death toll to rise. Later Saturday four more bodies were pulled from the mangled cars. The majority of the injured were taken to hospitals in Maputo in private cars and many people died along the way. Transport Minister Tomas Salomao told Radio Mozambique that the accident appeared to be the result of human error. "We are investigating the cause of the accident, which brought this time of mourning to the nation, but it was caused by a human error," he said. Antonio Libombo, an official from the national railway company, said he did not know what caused the crash and refused to comment on Salomao's assertion. Rui Fonseca, the company's chairman, said the injured and relatives of the dead passengers would receive compensation. Small railway crashes happen with some frequency in Mozambique, but Saturday's accident was by far the largest. Most of the crashes are blamed on human error and there have been public demands for better training of railway staff. Most of dead and injured in Saturday's crash, were thought to be Mozambican. Alexandre Manuele, the national health director, urged all off-duty doctors and nurses to report immediately to hospitals in Maputo to assist the injured. At Maputo's main hospital, scores of injured people lay on thin foam mattresses laid out on the floor and weeping relatives milled around. Doctors complained of a shortage of blood and drugs. Chissano cut short a visit to his home town to visit the hospital and express condolences to those who were injured or lost their relatives.
This is a terrible accident, which is getting less coverage than it would have had it happened in many other parts of the world. The death toll for a train crash is enormous. It seems that the train was a mixed passenger and freight, which was seperated for the climb of a steep hill, and the passenger cars rolled down the hill at high speed and collided with the standing freight train. Many accidents happen on Mozambique railways, and calls have been made for better staff training. Surely this incident will reinforce those calls?
At one time I corresponded with the office of Transportation Minister when Mozambique was a Portugese colony. He stayed in touch with the operating officials while things went to hell in a handbasket after the Portugese pulled out. Rival armies financed by the reds and western blocs shot the works up. A third faction supported by then Rhodesia, and their South African allies put another collection of thugs in the field to sustain the transportation of banned materials to Rhodesia. The net result was that sustaining a decent existence much less the the three Mozambique rail lines was next to impossible. They had a number of steam locomotives of modern lineage including many Garratts. I saw photos from the eighties of vast collections of steamers being overrun by the jungle. It is hard to believe that anyone has cut these locos up for scrap, in the absence of a domestic steel industry. Does anyone know if the steam fleet still exists, with out regard to its condition? Thanks, PJB
