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Train crash: Hunt on for clues
27/10/2005 11:34 - (SA)
Johannesburg - "Problems" with an electronic signalling system could have caused Wednesday night's head-on collision between the Blue Train and a Shosholoza Meyl passenger train, Spoornet's chief executive said.
"They are still looking for the black box that was on the Shosholoza to download information for a better understanding of what caused the accident," Siyabonga Gama, chief executive of Spoornet, said on Thursday.
Gama, who flew to the accident scene at 03:00 on Thursday with several managers from the rail operator said the accident could have been worse if the driver of the Shosholoza Meyl had not applied emergency brakes.
The Blue Train, which was waiting for the Shosholoza Meyl - the Trans Karoo express - to pass it, was stationary in a loop track at the Deelfonteing railway station, a remote area between De Aar and Victoria West, Gama said.
The Blue Train was ahead of schedule and was whiling away time, said Molatwane Likhethe, Spoornet spokesperson said.
Five patients flown to Bloemfontein
The Trans Karoo was apparently diverted onto the same track and the two met head-on.
Earlier on Thursday, Likhethe said the company had launched an investigation into the accident.
No deaths were reported when the trains collided head-on at 23:07.
The number and extent of injuries was not immediately clear.
"Preliminary reports indicate that 16 passengers sustained minor injuries. Those injured were evacuated to hospital in De Aar," said Likhethe in a media statement.
The Northern Cape health department said five people were critically injured when the two trains collided head-on.
Drivers of both trains hospitalized
Two of the five were flown to Bloemfontein, the head of the Northern Cape health department, Deon Madyo, said on Thursday.
He said the five were among 25 others who were admitted at a hospital in De Aar, about 20km from the accident scene.
"We have flown a team of doctors from Kimberley to De Aar to help there. We are currently coping with the disaster," he said.
Captain Zandisile Makhuphula, the police spokesperson in De Aar, said 74 people aboard the hotel-on-wheels and 182 in the Trans Karoo were injured in various degrees. Most appear to have escaped serious injuries.
During the collision, the engine of the Blue Train was pushed underneath its first coach, Gama said.
"The drivers of the two trains had been hospitalised at De Aar. One of them is in a critical but stable condition," he said.
"Various employees on the Blue train were also slightly injured. One of them is still in hospital with broken ribs.
Failure in signals system
"The Blue Train had a lot of overseas tourist and South African citizens on board. A Japanese couple were injured. The husband was treated for bruises to the neck at De Aar hospital," Gama said.
He said Spoornet had arranged buses to take passengers to their destinations, with the last four buses leaving the area at about 10:00.
The Blue Train is South Africa's premier luxury train and the Trans Karoo is the flagship Cape to Gauteng train.
United Transport and Allied Trade Union general secretary Chris de Vos said his union wanted to be part of the investigation.
"We will request the rail safety regulator and...Siyabonga Gama to include our union as part of the investigation because both train drivers are our members and we want to ensure that this isn't a finger pointing exercise and that we look at the real cause of the accident to prevent such an incident again," De Vos said.
He said 80% of rail accidents took place when "abnormal working conditions" prevailed.
He was informed that the accident resulted from a failure in the signals system and the absence of a back-up system to prevent human failure.
The railway line in the Deelfontein area has been closed. Some of the passengers were bussed to their destinations, Spoornet spokesperson Michael Asefowitz said.
- SAPA
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