Trucks ‘ignored’ the death crossing
Locals aid passengers on crashed train but many burnt to death
● Trucks seldom bother to stop at the railway crossing where 19 people died in a horrific train collision near Kroonstad in the Free State this week.
This is according to local resident Julie du Preez, who said trucks loaded grain at silos near the crash site.
“We have been here for 28 years. I see dozens of trucks every day that do not stop, they just go,” she said.
She said the train was a regular sight and passed their farm “almost every morning”.
Police said DNA testing of the remains removed from the carriages was due to be finalised by the end of next week.
Extra resources have been allocated, said police spokesman Brigadier Motantsi Makhele.
Read more about the heroes who emerged to save the trapped and comfort the dying.
● Farm worker David Mokhomo was one of the first people to respond to the deadly train crash that rocked the quiet farmlands near Kroonstad, in the Free State, this week.
With others from surrounding farms, he rushed to the scene and helped save many lives, pulling passengers from the burning wreckage.
But it is those he could not save who will haunt him forever.
He told the Sunday Times that he had held the hands of some trapped women shortly before they became engulfed in flames.
“An old woman was trapped by a chair,” he said. “Under another chair there was a small child, also trapped. We just couldn’t help them. I held all their hands before they died.”
For more than 28 years, a train has passed Nooitgedagt Geneva farm, near Kroonstad, almost every morning.
But on Thursday, just after 9am, the quiet was shattered by the screech of tearing steel and, soon after, the screams of trapped passengers.
The Shosholoza Meyl train, carrying more than 400 passengers and staff, had collided with the rear trailer of an articulated tipper truck, sending some carriages careering off the rails and dragging parts of the truck for more than 100m.
The Free State department of health said 19 people burnt to death. Four children were among the dead.
Amid the chaos and death, stories of heroism have emerged.
Friends Evert du Preez and Mokoni Chaka, both 12, made it their mission to catch small children being thrown from the carriage windows and carry them to safety.
Dairy farmer Jaco de Wet jumped inside one carriage to try to free a woman after getting several other passengers out.
Passenger Riaan Terblanche, whose car, which was being transported on the train, was crushed in the impact, pulled at least four people out before the flames took hold.
Willie du Preez, who owns Nooitgedagt Geneva, said: “As soon as we heard the massive crash we just knew. We heard the train blowing its horn and then two massive crashes. The windows in our parents’ home
The old woman was trapped by the chair. Under another chair there was a small child, also trapped. We just couldn’t help them. I held all their hands before they died
David Mokhomo Farm worker
actually rattled.”
He and his foreman, Dewald Malan, rushed to get fire extinguishers and the farm’s fire-fighting rig while he asked his workers to try to rescue people.
He had spotted smoke and knew a fire would soon break out.
Their efforts were in vain. The overhead electrical wires snapped, igniting a blaze that quickly spread through the carriages, engulfing them in minutes.
“The heat was immense,” Du Preez said. “We just couldn’t get close. But the firefighters arrived and they battled the fire. We were pumping water into the fire truck, but then the fire engine’s water pump broke. Fortunately another truck had just arrived.
“But it was too late. All those people were gone.”
Malan recalled one woman who screamed for what felt like an eternity. “There were screams. Then it went quiet and then there was more screaming. Then it just went quiet.”
Du Preez’s wife, Julie, said trucks that loaded grain at the silos a few hundred metres away from the crash site rarely stopped when crossing the railway tracks. “We have been here for 28 years. I see dozens of trucks every day that do not stop, they just go.”
She said she had seen the truck driver run from the scene, only to be apprehended by passengers.
Free State police spokesman Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said: “When police arrived, the truck driver was at the scene and he was co-operative.”
The Sunday Times has established that the truck belongs to Cordene Trading, a company registered in Klerksdorp. The owner of the truck, Kurt Marais, on Friday referred queries to his lawyer, Danie de Kock.
De Kock said: “We are still waiting for the forensic investigation, which we understand is scheduled for Wednesday. At that stage, if necessary, we will issue a statement.
“What I can say is that we have the utmost sympathy with the injured and the families who lost their loved ones. We understand the pain and suffering many are going through, but we need to have all the facts before we make statements.”
DNA testing on the remains removed from the carriages is under way. Free State police say the process will be finalised by the end of next week.
Makhele said a case of culpable homicide had been opened, but neither the truck driver nor train driver had yet been charged.
Prasa Rail acting CEO Mthuthuzeli Swartz blamed the truck driver, who he accused of trying to “beat the train”.