A passenger train smashed into a truck at a level crossing in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 14 people, injuring 190 and throwing several carriages off the rails.
Flames ripped through the twisted wreckage and choking black smoke rose into the air as desperate passengers clambered out of the train to escape the inferno.
Some of the bodies are "burnt beyond recognition", Free State Health Department spokesman Mondli Mvambi told South African news site Times Live.
Tiaan Esterhuizen, who was traveling on the train as he returned from holiday, attempted to rescue three women who were trapped in a burning passenger wagon.
“I saw around 12 cars on their side and one was already burning. We heard some women screaming when we came closer’ so a few of us climbed over the cars,” he told the Times Live.
“Two of the women were sort of on top of each other. Another was further back. Her legs were trapped. One of the women was shouting that there was a baby inside also.
“We searched but could not find the child... I am quite sure those women burned to death.”
Rescuers rushed to the scene to search for survivors and treat the injured. Officials warned the toll could rise as operations continued to clear the crash site.
“Police are investigating. The truck driver was taking chances... that cost lots of lives,” Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi told reporters at the scene.
“The truck driver has been taken to hospital where we are going to do a blood test to verify if he was sober or not, or what was the problem.”
The Shosholoza Meyl rail company, which operates long-distance trains in South Africa, said the train traveling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg collided with the truck at about 09:00 am (0700 GMT).
It said the truck had made an “untimely” crossing of the tracks when it was hit by a train at high speed, between the towns of Hennenman and Kroonstad, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.
One of the derailed carriages was the power generator behind the locomotive car. It caught fire and the flames spread rapidly.
Shosholoza Meyl said there were 429 passengers on board, though Maswanganyi put the number at 730.
“The death toll has increased to 14,” provincial government health spokesman Mondli Mvambi told AFP, adding that at least 190 people had been injured — two of them critically.
“It is feared that they could find more bodies as the search, recovery and rescue work is ongoing,” he said.
The number of injury reports also varied widely in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
“We still have to lift the carriages to see to whether there are any other people that are still trapped there or not. We still don’t know what is underneath,” said one railway official at the accident site, promising a full investigation.
Some victims were treated on a strip of grass beside the railway line while others were taken to hospital. Uninjured passengers waited on a nearby road, some of them carrying their luggage.
The New Year is a busy period for transport in South Africa, with railways and roads carrying passengers returning to work after the holidays.
In 2015, 15 people were killed in eastern South Africa when a mini-bus taxi fell from a bridge onto railway tracks and was hit by a train.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic
John Zubrzycki, Hurst Publishers
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
ICC men's cricketer of the year
2004 - Rahul Dravid (IND) ; 2005 - Jacques Kallis (SA) and Andrew Flintoff (ENG); 2006 - Ricky Ponting (AUS); 2007 - Ricky Ponting; 2008 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI); 2009 - Mitchell Johnson (AUS); 2010 - Sachin Tendulkar (IND); 2011 - Jonathan Trott (ENG); 2012 - Kumar Sangakkara (SL); 2013 - Michael Clarke (AUS); 2014 - Mitchell Johnson; 2015 - Steve Smith (AUS); 2016 - Ravichandran Ashwin (IND); 2017 - Virat Kohli (IND); 2018 - Virat Kohli; 2019 - Ben Stokes (ENG); 2021 - Shaheen Afridi
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
The results of the first round are as follows:
Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent
Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent
Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent
Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent
Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent
Results
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Company%20profile
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends