More than 300 passengers have been injured, 32 of them seriously, after two trains collided during rush hour in a Johannesburg suburb.
A Metrorail service en route to Pretoria slammed into a second Metrorail rail that had come to a halt in Van Riebeeck Park train station, in the northeast of the city, after suffering a mechanical fault.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“We heard an oncoming train hooting long before the crash,” the commuter said. “People who were hanging from the doors of the moving train saw there was going to be a crash and jumped screaming out of the moving train before the impact.”
Video footage shows chaos in the aftermath of the collision, as emergency services tried to search the wreckage as passengers crammed onto packed platforms.
Metrorail Gauteng spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng said last night that 320 passengers had been taken to hospital, 32 of them suffering “serious but not critical injuries”. There were no fatalities.
She added that a board of enquiry is to be set up to investigate the circumstances that led to the crash.
Rush-hour train accidents “have been worryingly common in South Africa’s commercial hub in recent months”, the Associated Press reports.
Another collision near Johannesburg last month resulted in around 100 injuries, and around 200 people were injured in January when a Metrorail train rear-ended a stationary train on the outskirts of the city.
South Africa boasts an extensive and low-cost rail network, but the service “has been plagued by mismanagement and under-investment”, causing train use to “dwindle”, says Reuters.
-
August 24 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Putin at Donald Trump's circus, gallons of whitewash, and a foldable cartoon
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in votingCartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugsTalking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across SyriaTHE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
-
Kill the Boer: Elon Musk and the anti-apartheid songUnder the radar Billionaire reignites controversy by linking South African 'struggle song' to 'white genocide'
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weaponsThe Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarrayIn the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
