South Africa train crash leaves one dead, 100 injured

  • 02/06/2017
Johannesburg train crash
Crowds outside the crashed trains (@noziwami / Twitter)

At least one person was killed and more than 100 injured when a South African train slammed into the back of another at a station near Johannesburg.

The collision, which left several train carriages lying on their sides, occurred after the two trains were manually authorised to be on the same track after signalling power cables were stolen overnight, Metrorail said in a statement.

"Paramedics discovered that one of the drivers of the trains had sustained fatal injuries," emergency medical services said in a statement.

Train collisions and derailments are not uncommon in South Africa, often caused by the theft of power cables, which are made out of highly sought-after copper.

Reuters