Cameroon train crash: death toll reaches 80

Eighty people have been confirmed dead and more than 600 others injured, three days after the derailment of a passenger train in Cameroon. The Transport Minister, Edgar Mebe’Ngo’o, on Monday said in Yaounde that government was expecting the toll to rise further.

“There may still be corpses hidden in the rubbles, and we have critical cases in hospital,” he said.
The minister said train, which had about 20 carriages, started developing problems near the town of Eseka, which is 120 kilometres from Yaounde, with coaches gradually detaching themselves.

“Four carriages crashed into a ravine and ejected passengers. Bodies were strewn at the site.

“The witnesses said some were mutilated beyond recognition,’’ he said.

The witnesses said that the train, which was meant to carry 600 people, carried more than twice that amount because hundreds of extra passengers had sought rail transport after the collapse of a bridge blocked an alternative road route.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya on Sunday put the death toll at more than 70 and pledged to investigate the causes of the rail crash.

“I have ordered an indepth inquiry into the causes of this accident,” Biya said.

Report said that rescue workers were still scouring wreckage for more bodies. It said that some were still seeking news of friends and family members on hand-written lists of passengers pinned up outside medical centres in the two cities.

The report said that on Sunday, the government appealed for additional blood donations to assist with the treatment of some 600 people who suffered injuries.

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Breaking: At least 3 dead and 100 injured after train crashes into station wall in New Jersey (Photos)

At least three people are believed to have died and at least 100 have been injured after a train crashed ‘at full pace’ into a train station platform today. The commuter train crashed through New Jersey Transit Hoboken station during rush hour.

Most of those who have been injured are in a critical condition according to a New Jersey Transit spokesman. Many passengers were this afternoon still trapped in the wreckage of the carriages.

Hoboken is at the end of the line and is a commuter station with many passengers ending their journey there to get a boat across the Hudson to New York City.

Linda Albelli, 62, who was on the train, said ‘I noticed, “he’s not slowing up, we’re going too fast,” and with that there was this tremendous crash.’

Passengers described the train as going ‘at full force’ into the station, knocking down a large section of the building. Many of the walking wounded were seen covered in blood or sat on benches waiting to be treated by first responders.

The crash happened at New Jersey Transit Hoboken where many passengers were waiting for trains.
Images on social media show a train that appears to have gone through the bumper stop at the end of a track.

‘The next thing I know, we are ploughing through the platform,’ passenger Bhagyesh Shah told NBC New York. ‘It was for a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity.’

He said the train was crowded, particularly the first two cars, because they make for an easy exit into the Hoboken station and onto the Path train. Passengers in the second car broke the emergency windows to get out.

‘I saw a woman pinned under concrete,’ Mr Shah told NBC New York. ‘A lot of people were bleeding; one guy was crying.’

Jay Danahy wrote on Twitter: ‘My train just ran full force into Hoboken Station.’ Another person from New York said: ‘Lucky to be alive… we in the second car of the train that crashed in Hoboken.’

Radio station WFAN anchor John Minko told New York radio station WINS that the train ‘went right through the barriers and into the reception area.’

Rail service was suspended in and out of Hoboken, which is 7 miles outside New York City. Hoboken is the final stop for several train lines, and the images show a train that appears to have gone through the bumper stop at the end of a track.

The train came to a halt in a covered area between the station’s indoor waiting area and the platform. A metal structure covering the area collapsed. The damage also appears to be significant with part of the structure of the building collapsing into heaps of twisted metal and bricks.

The Hoboken police chief has said there were ‘mass casualties’ while fire officials said the train appeared to have derailed.

Hoboken, which is New Jersey Transit’s fifth-busiest stations with 15,000 boardings per weekday, is the final stop for several train lines and a transfer point for many commuters on their way to New York City. More photos below....

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Germany Train Crash Caused By ‘Human Error’ Says Prosecutor

A prosecutor has explained that human error was to blame for a train crash in Bavaria, Germany, last week that killed 11 people. More than 80 people were injured after two commuter trains collided on a single-track stretch of railway.

The trains crashed head-on while both were travelling at about 100km/h (60mph) east of Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60km south-east of Munich. All 11 victims of the crash were men aged between 24 and 59.

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Moving Train crushes Redeemer’s univeristy’s car in Osogbo

A driver and a passenger inside a Toyota Corolla car belonging to the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, escaped death when a train crushed their car at Olaiya Junction, Osogbo, on Thursday.
Eyewitnesses told Punch correspondent that the accident, which occurred around1:20 pm, almost caused traffic congestion but for the timely arrival of officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who cleared the rail line and ensured free flow of traffic.

Another eyewitnesses told Punch correspondent that the train had just one coach and the driver of the train, having crushed the car, parked the engine at the terminus, which is about 200 meters away from the scene. He was said to have come to the scene, took photographs of the crushed car, and returned to the train to continue with his journey.

An eyewitness, who identified himself as Toba, told our correspondent that the train was travelling from Ede to Ilorin. He said the Redeemer’s University’s driver followed a convoy of speeding bullion vans to the the spot, but was not aware that he had gotten to a railway crossing.

He said, “The man was fortunate that the train just crushed the font side of the car and the impact pushed back the car. The car suffered some damage at the front but the driver and the passenger were lucky.”

The driver, who identified himself as Owolabi, resisted the attempt of railway policemen to tow away the car.  He pleaded that the policemen should allow officials of the university who, he said, were on their way to the scene to arrive before towing away the damaged car.

He said, “We are on our way to send this parcel to Pastor Yemi Osinbajo (the vice president). Please, let the university officials come and see the car here before you tow it away.”

The move to tow the car also pitched the policemen angling two officials of the FRSC who arrived at the scene. However, the FRSC officials allowed the policemen, who were later joined by more uniformed policemen, to tow away the car.

-Punch
 

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Moving Train crushes Redeemer’s univeristy’s car in Osogbo

A driver and a passenger inside a Toyota Corolla car belonging to the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, escaped death when a train crushed their car at Olaiya Junction, Osogbo, on Thursday.
Eyewitnesses told Punch correspondent that the accident, which occurred around1:20 pm, almost caused traffic congestion but for the timely arrival of officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who cleared the rail line and ensured free flow of traffic.

Another eyewitnesses told Punch correspondent that the train had just one coach and the driver of the train, having crushed the car, parked the engine at the terminus, which is about 200 meters away from the scene. He was said to have come to the scene, took photographs of the crushed car, and returned to the train to continue with his journey.

An eyewitness, who identified himself as Toba, told our correspondent that the train was travelling from Ede to Ilorin. He said the Redeemer’s University’s driver followed a convoy of speeding bullion vans to the the spot, but was not aware that he had gotten to a railway crossing.

He said, “The man was fortunate that the train just crushed the font side of the car and the impact pushed back the car. The car suffered some damage at the front but the driver and the passenger were lucky.”

The driver, who identified himself as Owolabi, resisted the attempt of railway policemen to tow away the car.  He pleaded that the policemen should allow officials of the university who, he said, were on their way to the scene to arrive before towing away the damaged car.

He said, “We are on our way to send this parcel to Pastor Yemi Osinbajo (the vice president). Please, let the university officials come and see the car here before you tow it away.”

The move to tow the car also pitched the policemen angling two officials of the FRSC who arrived at the scene. However, the FRSC officials allowed the policemen, who were later joined by more uniformed policemen, to tow away the car.

-Punch
 

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