Train 'just went straightthrough the wall'

2003-10-24 10:25

Cape Town - The train that crashed on Friday at Cape Town station "didn't stop - it just went straight through the wall. There were sparks flying."

This was stark statement by a commuter who saw the train from Wellington smash into a wall at the end of its trip to Cape Town on Friday morning.

About 12 people were injured when the train failed to stop and barrelled into a wall.

Provincial ambulance chief Phumzile Papu, who was at the station, said the 12, including the driver, had only minor injuries.

Six had to be taken away on stretchers, the other six were "walking patients".

Papu said everybody else had left the train.

Early unconfirmed reports indicate the train's brakes failed.

Western Cape MEC for local government Cobus Dowry said earlier at least 15 people had been injured.

He said the city's disaster management team at Platform 8.

Metropolitan disaster management was in contact with staff at the accident where activities were being co-ordinated.

Many people fell forward

Dowry said his department would monitor the situation and conduct an investigation into the accident.

A commuter travelling from Bonteheuwel, Faizel Faried, who was in one of the rear carriages, said there was a loud noise as the train smashed into a wall at the end of the tracks and many people fell forward.

A vendor who declined to be identified said he heard a loud noise and there was dust everywhere.

A caller to Cape Talk radio said he was getting off a train two platforms away. "The train didn't stop. It just went straight into the building," he said.

"Initially, people thought it was a bomb that went off because there were just sparks and no one was actually concentrating on that there was a train coming."

Another caller to the radio station said she had just alighted from the Simon's Town train and was walking along the platform when she heard a train coming.

"I looked to my right and I thought 'that train is not going to stop'.

"It didn't even appear to be braking. It just went straight through the wall. There were sparks flying."

All entrances to the station were sealed off with steel doors and no one was allowed on the station.

The only people there were commuters coming into Cape Town.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the newly inaugurated board of the Railway Safety Regulator said one of the body's functions would be to conduct investigations or appoint somebody to investigate train accidents.

"The approach is not to try and apportion blame, but to enhance safety prospects in the rail industry," said chairperson Sipho Madonsela.

He said that the responsibility of implementing recommendations ultimately rested with operators, such as Metrorail.

National Metrorail spokesperson Tshidiso Moshao did not want to comment, but said the company was preparing a statement.

- SAPA