Emergency services workers carry a passenger injured in the Rovos Rail accident in Pretoria to an ambulance. Photo: Netcare/Sapa
A South African luxury train derailed outside the capital Pretoria on Wednesday, killing three people including a woman and her baby, born just after the accident, officials said.
”The Railway Safety Regulator has learnt with alarm of the Rovos Rail accident early this afternoon in Pretoria where three people were fatally injured, while nine were critically injured,” the railway authority said in a statement.
The three killed included the newborn baby of a woman who gave birth after the antique luxury Rovos Rail train derailed, said Chris Botha, spokesperson for emergency medical services operator Netcare 911.
The woman and her baby both died, he said.
Another five people were reported to be critically injured and nine others seriously hurt in the accident that happened 50 days before the start of the football World Cup. Thirty-five people sustained minor injuries, Botha said.
”It’s absolute carnage,” Botha told AFP from the scene of the accident.
”Some of the railway coaches are lying on top of each other and absolute wreckages. They had to use hydraulic rescue equipment to cut some of the people free.”
Luxury liner Rovos Rail confirmed the accident but said it had no details on the nationalities of the passengers involved. A spokesperson said most customers are from Europe and the United States.
”We had a derailment of one of our trains. It was an inbound train from Cape Town to Pretoria,” said David Patrick, marketing manager for private luxury rail company Rovos Rail.
”The emergency services are attending to the injured and some of the injured have been taken to hospital,” he told AFP.
Safety inspectors said it appeared the accident happened as the train was changing from an electrical locomotive to the Rovos Rail’s emblematic steam engine.
”The rest of the train went into motion and ran away before the steam locomotive could be coupled, resulting in a derailment outside the Blue Train depot in Pretoria,” the regulator said.
The Blue Train is another famed luxury train that runs between Pretoria and Cape Town. The two companies share some of the same stations, but Rovos Rail operates restored antique trains.
”This accident has affected all commuter rail services on the Pretoria main line and the affected portion of the line has been closed until further notice,” the regulator said.
Rovos Rail’s Patrick said he did not have information about the nationalities of the passengers involved, but said some of Rovos’ largest markets for its luxury ”train safaris” are continental Europe, the United States and Britain.–AFP
