/ 12 August 2001

91 ANGOLANS DIE AS TRAIN HITS LANDMINE

AT least 91 people died and 146 were injured when a train struck a landmine east of the Angolan capital Luanda, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Saturday. The train, consisting of four passenger cars, two freight cars and two oil containers, was derailed by the explosion. Some 500 passengers were reported aboard. Angola, ravaged by civil war almost non-stop since independence from Portugal in 1975, is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Latest figures were released to local radio by a member of a commission of enquiry. Earlier reports spoke of 16 dead and 56 injured. A final casualty total had not yet been established because passenger cars were still in flames late on Saturday, Lusa reported. The accident occurred Friday afternoon between the towns of Zenza and Dondo in Cuanza Norte Province, some 150 kilometers east of Luanda. – AFP