/ 19 May 2011

Hundreds injured in Soweto train smash

About 250 passengers were injured when two trains crashed in Meadowlands, Soweto on Thursday, Johannesburg emergency services said.

About 250 passengers were injured when two trains crashed in Meadowlands, Soweto on Thursday, Johannesburg emergency services said.

Of the injured, about 150 were transported to various hospitals in the area, said spokesperson Synock Matobako.

“We are still on the scene removing patients but we are not done yet. We have about 100 passengers still that we are trying to lift from the railway tracks,” he said.

“We estimate a total of 250 people were injured in the accident … it’s the walking and the wounded here so we anticipate we’ll be busy for three more hours,” he said.

The injured had been transported to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, Helen Joseph hospital and various private hospitals in Gauteng.

A Sapa reporter on the scene said that a moving train had seemingly hit a stationary train head-on, between Mzimhlophe and Phomolong stations around 5:30pm.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Jeff Wicks said several hundred passengers had spilled from the doors of both trains and were found lying on an adjacent train track.

Many residents had gathered around the scene while 15 ambulances tended to the injured. Additional ambulances had to be called from around Gauteng. — Sapa