STEVEN MANN, Johannesburg | Saturday 5.30pm.
TWO people died in the head-on collision between two passenger trains near Kaalfontein east of Johannesburg and not three as originally reported, police said on Saturday.
Rescue workers rigged up a crane in the early hours of Saturday morning to lift the mangled train carriages off the track, and expected to recover a third body from the wreckage, but none was found, police spokesman Eugene Opperman said.
Two of the 190 people injured in the crash on Friday afternoon were still in a serious condition.
Opperman said there was still no word on how the accident had happened and that an investigation into its cause would take some time.
Metrorail has been laying on buses to transport passengers between Johannesburg and Pretoria. It expects train lines to be fully operational again by Sunday.
The company has denied claims made by the South African Footplate Staff Association that its employers are forced to work shifts lasting up to 20 hours.
The association’s general secretary Chris de Vos said the accident was the fourth involving passenger trains in the past three months, and that excessive working hours are a major contributor.
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