Three Killed, Hundreds Injured in South Africa Train Collision

Reuters
1/8/2019
Updated:
1/8/2019

JOHANNESBURG—At least three people were killed and around 300 injured on Jan. 8 after two trains collided in the South African capital Pretoria, an emergency services official said.

The crash, which occurred at 9:30 a.m. local time, left 82 passengers with serious injuries after a packed train careered into a stationary train at Mountain View station.

“We do not rule out the possibility of additional fatalities as we search under the wreckage,” emergency official Charles Mabaso told Reuters.

An investigation into the cause of the collision was ongoing, Mabaso said.

The site of a train crash in Pretoria, South Africa, on Jan. 8, 2019 in a picture obtained from social media. (Twitter/@abramjee/via Reuters)
The site of a train crash in Pretoria, South Africa, on Jan. 8, 2019 in a picture obtained from social media. (Twitter/@abramjee/via Reuters)

This is the latest in a series of train accidents in South Africa, which has the continent’s largest railway network.

In October, 320 people were injured after a packed train traveling from Johannesburg to Pretoria crashed into the back of a stationary train.