Blazing train collision scores up to 200 people injured
JOHANNESBURG – Around 200 people were injured on Tuesday when two passenger trains collided in a suburb of South Africa’s main city Johannesburg, emergency services network ER24 said.
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“The exact details surrounding this incident are not yet known but local authorities are on the scene and will be launching an investigation into the matter,” ER24 said in a statement.
No fatalities were reported in the accident, which took place days after more than a dozen people were killed and hundreds injured when a train struck a lorry, derailed and burst into flames in central South Africa.
South Africa has the continent’s largest railway network, but it has been plagued by mismanagement and under-investment that has seen train use dwindle despite it being the cheapest from of public transportation.
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In a report, the government’s Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) said that, in the 2016/17 financial year, 495 people lost their lives on the country’s railways and 2,079 were injured. The death toll was up 5 percent from the previous year.