South Africa train crash: Four dead in truck collision
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@ER24EMS
A passenger train has caught fire in South Africa after colliding with a truck, killing four people and injuring 40, rescue workers have said.
Video footage showed a fire blazing through at least one carriage, by a crushed car and an overturned truck.
Evacuated passengers were seen standing on the roadside with luggage.
The collision occurred near Kroonstad city in Free State province, after the truck failed to stop at a crossing, a passenger told local media.
About 850 passengers had been safely evacuated from the train, police were quoted as saying.
The driver of the truck tried to flee, but was arrested by police, passenger Seipati Moletsane told the privately owned eCNA news site.
Passengers in the first two coaches were wounded, she added.
"I was so traumatised. I didn't know what to do. I was looking for a door just to jump out. Every door was locked... All of a sudden, we just saw smoke, smoke, smoke," Ms Moletsane said.
A tweeter posted a video of the fire.
Firemen rushed to the scene and battled the blaze on the train, which had been travelling from the coastal city of Port Elizabeth to the commercial capital, Johannesburg.
Private emergency services company Netcare 911 said that four people had died and 40 others were wounded in the collision.
"Those with serious injuries are being transported by Netcare 911 and other services to hospital," its spokesman Tebogo Magoro said.
The train was travelling from the coastal city of Port Elizabeth to the commercial capital, Johannesburg, when the crash occurred.
Another private emergency company, ER24 EMS, said that about 100 people had sustained minor or serious injuries.