Thursday, January 31, 2013

South Africa Train Crash Injures 300

Scene of the crash
Scene of the crash
Dozens of school children were among those injured in the crash, which left the driver of one of the engines needing to be rescued from his cab.The accident happened just before 8am when a train collided with a stationary locomotive near Attridgeville, a suburb west of Pretoria."Many are walking wounded and already left. There are 20 people in serious condition and one, the driver of the second train, is in a critical condition," local emergency services spokesman Johan Pieterse said.

"Both of the trains were full of commuters and between them were lots of school children on the way to school. We counted about 50 plus children," he added.At least three people were said to be in a "critical" condition according to Chris Botha, a spokesman for emergency services provider Netcare.At least one person was airlifted to the nearby Milpark Hospital, others were taken by ambulance and many were treated at the scene.Rescue workers struggled to cut away the tangled wreckage of the trains to free the passengers. One of the train drivers was freed from the carriage where he was trapped for two hours. 

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