An estimated 32 people have been killed after a train derailed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC’s, Kasai province. Over seventy others were reported injured Africanews reported.
The incident involved a freight train but which had people hanging on the sides. Children are said to be the majority of victims.
The police said a number of the wagons fell into a river with an active search and rescue operation being carried out.
The victim count is likely to mount as the search operation continues. Reports indicate that today’s incident is the third rail accident in the area in recent weeks.
The real cause of the accident has yet to be ascertained. Trains in Congo date back to the 1960s with lack of maintenance of tracks and other infrastructure usually the reason for such incidents.
Casualties with severe injuries were taken to the hospital in nearby Kakenge settlement.
“We are overwhelmed by the number of injured. We are working urgently. We have already admitted 31 injured,” said Dr Jean Claude Tshimanga of Kakenge hospital. The national rail company confirmed the derailment.
It is the third rail accident in about a month in central DRC. Five people were killed in a passenger train accident last month at the station in Kalenda.
Rail accidents in DRC are frequent and often deadly because of decrepit track and ageing locomotives dating from the 1960s.
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