This Saturday, the National Railway Company of Congo (SNCC) announced that at least 60 people were killed overnight from Thursday to Friday when a train derailed in the Kolwezi region, in the south- east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At this stage, "the balance sheet is 61 dead, men, women and children" and "52 injured evacuated", told Marc Manyonga Ndambo, director in charge of infrastructure for the public railway company, contacted on the spot. by telephone from Lubumbashi.

“Several hundred clandestine travellers”

According to him, the convoy was a freight train which, although prohibited, carried “several hundred stowaways”.

“Some bodies are still believed to be stuck in the fallen wagons in the ravines,” he added.

Quoted by Congolese media, the governor of the province of Lualaba, Fifi Masuka, and the administrator of the territory of Lubudi, where the accident occurred, Clémentine Lutanga, reported a provisional toll of 60 dead.

According to Marc Manyonga, the train, made up of 15 wagons, 12 of which were empty, came from Luena, in the neighboring province of Haut-Lomami and was heading towards the mining town of Tenke, not far from Kolwezi.

Frequent derailments in the DRC

It derailed Thursday evening at 11:50 p.m. at the village of Buyofwe, about 200 km from Kolwezi, "at a place where there are ravines", in which 7 of the 15 wagons fell, he said.

“My team is working hard to clear the way by Monday,” added Marc Manyonga.

He did not comment on the reasons for the accident, but the dilapidated state of the rails is probably one of the causes.

Train derailments are frequent in the DRC, as are the sinking of overloaded boats on the country's lakes and rivers.

Often, in the absence of passenger trains or passable roads, passengers take freight trains to travel long distances.

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  • Train

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