CHARMAINE PRETORIUS, Durban | Thursday
SURVIVORS of Tuesday’s KwaZulu-Natal train crash in which 26 people died said they had been talking about a ”ghost train” on the railway line moments before the crash.
Most passengers on the train, which was travelling from KwaDukuza (formerly Stanger) to Durban, were school children on their way home.
The train collided with a stationary goods train at the Charlotte Dale station, about five kilometres from KwaDukuza. Six of the coaches derailed and at least 10 people died at the scene, while more than a hundred were injured.
Fifteen-year-old Njabulo Ntuli, from Groutville High, who lost his best friend in the accident, told journalists that passengers were discussing rumours of a ghost train on the line when the accident happened.
He was trapped inside the train and had to wait for emergency personnel to arrive on the scene to be freed. His legs were badly cut.
His friend, Thamsanqa Gumede, was less fortunate.
”We heard that there was a ghost train on the truck and we were talking about it, and then suddenly there was this bang. I was trapped and could not get out,” Ntuli said.
The passenger train smashed into the back of the Spoornet goods train, which was around a bend.
The goods train had apparently broken down due to faulty breaks.
To make matters worse, the automated signal system was not working because thieves had stolen vital signal wire to obtain the copper. Copper wire sells for as little as R10 on the scrap metal black market.
The loss of the wire meant three signal lights which should have warned the oncoming train about the danger, did not work.
The communication device between the driver and the control room was also not working.
Metrorail officials said signalling would have been done manually with officials walking up and down the line waving flags.
In the chaos immediately following the accident, parents were looking for their lost children among the weeping injured.
A man approached reporters crying and asked them to help him find his two daughters Thuli and Nthobi Dlamini, aged 14 and 15 years.
”I think they are alive, but I do not know where they were taken or how to get there. I have no car.”
He was referred to a volunteer who was taking down the names of the injured as they were loaded into the ambulances.
On Wednesday people flocked to the KwaDukuza mortuary where the bodies of the deceased were laid out for identification.
Among the searchers was Sidney Ntuli, who had been driving around the whole night searching for his wife, Mlungile Shiza (38) a teacher.
Ntuli said he had not slept and the last meal he had was breakfast on Tuesday morning.
Shiza’s sister-in-law, also a teacher, missed the train by a minute and took a taxi home.
When she arrived there she heard about the accident and phoned Ntuli.
”I last ate yesterday morning. I do not feel like eating. I am worried about my children (aged three, two and 16). All I want is just to find her, whether she is dead or alive,” she said.
Mvusi Bukosini, from Groutville, lost both his 13-year-old son Bongeni and his 19-year-old brother, Mduduzi Mkhize.
Mduduzi was the president of Tshelenkosi Secondary School in Shakasville. His body was damaged beyond recognition and he was identified only by the cellphone he still had on him.
Mduduzi’s two sisters Khanyisile (14) and Poppie, six, were still missing on Wednesday afternoon.
Bukosini said he got to the scene as soon as he could.
”I saw bodies being taken out and I thought I saw Bongeni. When I looked closer I saw that it was Bongeni.”
Twenty-four-year-old Thembelani Ngcobo from KwaDukuza was in the second coach from the front.
Despite a broken leg he managed to crawl to safety through the windows of the wreck.
”We tried to get out as soon as we could, but we could not because the doors were jammed and we had to get out through the windows. We could not save everyone, those who were okay tried to pull out those who were still inside the coaches.
”People were crying. Children were crying for their parents and parents were crying for their children. It was terrible!”
”Others were praying and I am thankful to God that I survived.”
He was taken to the Stanger hospital, where more than a hundred injured passengers were treated in the space of a few hours.
On Wednesday morning school principals from the schools in the area tried to ascertain which of their pupils had been on the train.
At the Stanger South Secondary School at least 18 pupils were reported missing. Two of them had died.
At the Nkukweni primary school a teacher died and several pupils were missing.
Metrorail on Wednesday morning established an assistance centre at the scene of the accident to assist families with transport and information about missing loved ones.
Metrorail officials will meet families on February 13 to determine further support.
Meanwhile, the terms of reference for a commission of inquiry into the KwaDukuza train crash which claimed more than 20 lives is expected to be finalised on Thursday, Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe told reporters on Wednesday. – Sapa
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