At least 18 dead and 260 hurt in train crash

A passenger train carrying people home after the holidays slammed into a lorry in rural South Africa, killing at least 18 people and injuring about 260 others, authorities have said.

Officials said the lorry driver allegedly tried to cross the tracks just ahead of the oncoming train, part of which burst into flames after the collision, trapping some passengers in carriages.

Those who were able to escape with their luggage hurriedly dragged bags from the smoking wreck to a nearby road.

“The truck driver was taking chances. He thought that he was going to pass through,” the country’s transport minister Joe Maswanganyi said.

“Little did he know that the train was going to hit him.”

Some of the dead were badly burned, said Mthuthuzeli Swartz, acting chief executive of the state-owned passenger rail agency.

The train with 429 passengers aboard had been travelling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg.