South African train collision kills three, injures 600
Johannesburg, Jan 8: Two passenger trains collided head on during the morning rush hour in South Africa's capital city Pretoria Tuesday, killing three people and injuring hundreds, emergency services said.
Two critically injured people were airlifted from the scene of the crash in Mountain View, northern Pretoria, spokesman Charles Mabaso told AFP.
Another 641 people were hurt, with 11 sustaining critical injuries and 62 suffering "moderate" injuries.
"The current fatalities stand at three, but it still might rise," said Mabaso.
When paramedics arrived on the scene, they found carriages from both trains tilting half off the track.
"Numerous passengers were found either in the trains or found walking around on the scene," Russel Meiring, a spokesman for the ER24 emergency services, said in a statement
Rail accidents are common in South Africa. In 2016-17, 495 people were killed on the country's railways, according to the Railway Safety Regulator.
Transport Minister Blade Nzimande said the accident was caused by signals failure which he blamed on cable theft.
"I'm truly saddened about this continuing deaths of commuters at Metrorail," said the minister after visiting the scene of the crash.
"I'm personally outraged ...we can't every time be having the repeat of the same problem. As government, we have to bring this to end. We need more stringent measures to be able to deal with this situation. We need to find a way of dealing with rail safety," he said, demanding explanation from the country's rail agency.
The theft of railway cables is a continuing problem in the country. They are often melted into ingots before being smuggled to Asia.
Khanyisile Kweyama, the chairwoman of the board of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), admitted that the security of rail signalling cables "hasn't been" great.
A year ago, in one of the country's worst rail disasters, a passenger train smashed into a lorry at a level crossing near Kroonstad in the central Free State province, killing 19 people and wounding 254.
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Mercury plunges in Kashmir after brief respite, Shopian freezes at minus 6.4 deg C
Srinagar (PTI): Night temperatures in Kashmir dropped several degrees below the freezing point, even as a thick layer of fog engulfed parts of the valley, with Srinagar recording a low of minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, officials said on Saturday.
Shopian was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir as the mercury there settled at a low of minus 6.4 degrees Celsius, they said.
The mercury had on Thursday night settled above the freezing point at most places in the valley, providing huge relief to the residents from the biting cold conditions.
However, temperatures dropped across Kashmir on Friday night, bringing back the freezing cold, the officials said.
On the Friday night, the minimum temperature in Srinagar -- the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir -- settled at minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, a sharp drop from 0.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, the officials said.
The gateway town to the valley, Qazigund, recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, while the mercury settled at minus 3.5 degrees Celsius in north Kashmir's Kupwara, and minus 0.2 degrees Celsius in south Kashmir's Kokernag, the officials said.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius, while Gulmarg lodged minus 2.6 degrees Celsius and Konibal town in Pulwama district recorded minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, they said.
The meteorological department said the weather would remain generally cloudy but dry on December 6-7, and a brief spell of light snowfall at isolated places in the higher reaches of north and central Kashmir is likely on December 8.
