60 reported dead in Congo train crash
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
60 people are reported to have died, with several hundred more injured, after a train in Congo derailed.
The incident happened Monday night, according to the railroad company, Chemin de Fer Congo-Ocean. The incident is believed to have occurred as the train rounded a curve in a remote part of the Congo, around 37 miles (60 km) from Pointe-Noire. Four railcars are reported to have fallen into a ravine.

Image: Unsonique (Wikimedia Commons).
A spokesperson for the government, Bienvenue Okiemy, said that "excess speed" had been the cause of the derailment.
Officials said 60 bodies have been recovered, and a further 450 people are being treated for injuries at a hospital in Pointe-Noire. Okiemy commented that the death toll could still rise, "because searches and operations to lift wagons which fell into a ravine are still ongoing."
A railroad official said that "[t]he material damage was also very severe", adding that "[a]ll steps have been taken to organise relief."
The incident is the third major train crash on the line in two decades. In 1991, a passenger train collided with a freighter, killing around 100 people, and in 2001, another collision killed around 50 people.
Sister links
Sources
- "Train crash in southern Congo 'kills 60'" — BBC News Online, June 22, 2010
- "Sixty killed in Congo Republic train crash" — Reuters, June 22, 2010