afrol News, 6 August - A train crashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s West Kasai region last week, leaving 160 people dead, the country‘s Minister of Transport, Remy Henri Kuseyo Gatanga, confirmed.

A national railway operator blamed the accident on the train’s jumping over the tracks but most people believed that overcrowding, high speed and poor rail track might have also exacerbated the fatal crash.

Most of the bodies recovered from the wreckage were buried in mass graves near the crash site. Rescue officers use bicycles to carry the survivors to the nearest hospital, 12 km away.

The latest incident is the second in the province in three weeks. Many of the dead are said to be illegal passengers who have been given lift on the cargo carriages of the national freight train.

Three days of national mourning was declared by the Congolese government. A delegation led by Denis Kalume Numbi, the Interior Minister, at the weekend visited the crash site with food and medical provisions.

In an effort to arrest a spread of epidemic among inhabitants close to the crash site, a large quantity of chlorine was poured on river waters used for consumption purposes.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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