Trains are regarded as cheap and slightly safe means of transport for most of the people in Africa and around the world. The lasted train derailment in DRC shook train commuters.
A train derailment in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Kasai province in the centre-west of the country has killed at least 24 people and injured over 30.
Vietnam News reports quoting police and medical services on Monday said that the freight train was carrying stowaways when it derailed on Sunday.
Train kills 24 in DRC#DRCTrains #Stowaways #Derailments #BelgiumColony pic.twitter.com/n00PDtuA46
— Cooloo Africa (@Cooloo_Africa) March 18, 2019
“We have retrieved 24 bodies, mostly children. It is a provisional toll because the wagons are still overturned,” a railway police official in Bena Leka, 140 km north of Kananga, one of the main towns in Kasai, said.
Many children among 24 killed in train derailment in the Democratic Republic of Congo, police and medical services say https://t.co/J3OUUs77vj pic.twitter.com/FzU18C13rc
— Shukur Biya (@Shuk_bi) March 18, 2019
“Several wagons have fallen into the water at the bridge over the Luembe River and five more wagons are still overturned.”
Yesterday,a frieght train got derailed in the DRC killing 24(mostly children) atleast and 31 left injured.Most of the passengers were stoaways and several wagons have fallen into the water from the bridge of Luembe river.
— Bhandaryhimanshu (@Bhandaryhimans1) March 18, 2019
As the injured were rushed to hospital in nearby Kakenge, many in a critical state, doctor Jean Claude Tshimanga said his hospital was overwhelmed by the number of injured and that medical staff had worked overnight to help the victims.
Decaying infrastructure and aging locomotives dating from the sixties result in regular rail accidents.
Toni: In the news at 8am | SADC achieves 77% project implementation | South African land reform process under microscope | DRC: Freight train derailment kills 24 | Paris Jackson denies alleged suicide attempt
— Radiowave News (@RadiowaveNews) March 18, 2019
This was the third derailment in the DRC in about a month. Five people were killed in a passenger train accident last month at the station in Kalenda.