Hundreds injured as 2 trains collide
STATION: MECHANICAL FAILURE BLAMED FOR CRASH
Scores of people were injured last night when two passenger trains collided at the Van Riebeeck Station in Kempton Park.
Metrorail said in a statement last night that at least 320 commuters were injured, with 32 of them suffering “serious but not critical injuries”.
The company said a board of inquiry would be appointed to investigate the crash which happened when a train rear-ended another which was experiencing mechanical problems while standing stationary at the platform of the station.
“Metrorail technical teams will be working around the clock to recover the site,” Metrorail said.
Ekurhuleni Emergency Medical Services said no one was killed. “We can confirm for now we have not yet recorded any fatalities as a result of this accident,” said spokesperson William Ntladi
“Paramedics, firefighters, police and rescuers are still inside the trains searching for those who might have been overlooked,” he said earlier
However, private ambulance service Netcare 911 said it received reports of more than 200 injured.
“At approximately 6.30pm Netcare 911 responded to reports of a serious train crash...” the ambulance service said in a statement. “Although exact numbers are still to be confirmed, we are told that initial reports from the scene indicate that around two hundred people have sustained varying degrees of injuries in the collision between two passenger trains and that multiple people are trapped in the wreckage.”
ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring told EWN: “The injuries [range] from minor to serious. Current assessments will carry on until all the patients are treated by paramedics and will then be transported to the nearest hospitals. Relevant authorities are on scene and are investigating.”
Last month, at least 112 commuters sustained minor injuries with seven sustaining serious but not critical injuries when a Metrorail train travelling from Faraday towards New Canada collided head-on with one from Naledi, Soweto. Meanwhile, Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) regional manager Richard Walker, said in Cape Town yesterday that a number of actions and plans have been put in place to expedite recovery of operational services at Prasa.
Walker addressed members of the Unite Behind organisation who protested at the Cape Town train station, calling on Prasa to take swift recovery reaction to its troubled services.
“We have serious infrastructure related issues and we have put a number of actions and plans already in place to look at how do we expedite the issue of recovering the coaches and bringing them back into service,” he said. – Citizen reporter and ANA
Technical teams will be working around the clock.