At least 300 people have been injured in a train crash near South Africa’s biggest city, emergency services said. The rush-hour accident happened close to Booysens station south of Johannesburg as commuters made their way home for the weekend. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.
Santi Steinmann, spokesperson for the ambulance and hospital service Netcare 911, told South Africa’s News24 website on Friday: “At this point in time, a total of 250 commuters have been attended to at the scene and have been transported to various hospitals by various services. There are currently still patients at the scene, so the number might even increase.”
Later in the day, Nana Radebe, spokesperson for Johannesburg’s emergency services, said 326 people had been transported to nearby hospitals.
The cause of the crash is still unknown. Russel Meiring, spokesperson for the emergency paramedic service ER24, said it was believed that two trains collided, causing one to derail and partially overturn. Paramedics and other services arrived to find a “mass casualty incident”.
“A paramedic at the scene told me it was an absolutely horrific incident,” Meiring said. “People were running and screaming and asking to be treated first. Paramedics immediately began setting up a triage area to effectively treat the patients. Patients were found all over the scene with injuries ranging from minor to serious.” These included numerous soft tissue injuries and fractures, as well as head, neck and chest injuries to people who, as in a car crash, had violently been thrown forward from their seats.
Meiring could not yet rule out the possibility of loss of life. “Ambulances are going back and forth between the scene and nearby hospitals. We are hoping for the best, but we are expecting the worst.”
South Africa has witnessed a number of rail accidents in the recent past, he said, but this was among the worst. “The cause of the collision is not yet known, but local authorities were on scene for further investigations.”
The country’s commuter trains, used mainly by the black working class, are notoriously slow, overcrowded and dangerous. Almost 900 people were killed in railway accidents between 2007 and 2009, according to a survey by the South African Institute of Race Relations.
Lillian Mofokeng, spokesperson for train operator Metrorail, said there were likely to have been more than 1,200 people on board the train. She told News24: “It is too early for us now to say what really caused the accident … but I am sure as the night goes on we will be able to give an update … No fatalities or critical injuries reported yet.”
The company arranged buses to transport commuters meant to be using the same route. Mofokeng added: “The accident happened around 18.00, which is well within our peak period and there are other trains behind these ones. We want to ask commuters to be patient and bear with us as we are arranging alternative transport for them so that they can go to their destinations.”
In April this year a guard was killed on a stationary train at Johannesburg’s Denver station when it was hit by a train that passed a red warning signal. A month later two people died when trains collided head on in Blaney, Eastern Cape province.
