Dozens killed in train accident in DR Congo

At least 60 people died after a cargo train derailed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an official said.

The accident occurred on late Friday in the territory of Lubudi in the Lualaba province.

"(Currently) the toll is 61 dead, men, women and children (and) 52 injured who have been evacuated," Marc Manyonga Ndambo, director of infrastructure at the SNCC train operator, said on Saturday.

The Societe Nationale des chemins de fer du Congo (SNCC) is the national railway company for the inland transfers.

Many of the wounded including a child under the age of two, whose parents died in the accident, were taken to the nearby hospital in Lubudi, Ndambo added.

Local media also quoted the provincial governor Fifi Masuka as saying 60 people had been killed.

The train was a freight service that had been carrying "several hundred stowaways," said Manyonga said even though this was prohibited.

"Some of the bodies were still trapped in the wagons that had fallen into the ravines," he added.

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'Illegal passengers'

The train was heading from Mueneditu town to Lubumbashi.

Though the cargo train is not allowed to carry passengers, reports indicate that it was carrying “illegal passengers.”

Manyonga said the train was made up of 15 wagons, 12 of which were empty, and was coming from Luen in a neighbouring province destined for the mining town of Tenke, close to Kolwezi.

The cause of the accident has yet to be ascertained, but local media reports said that seven cars had detached from the train before ending up in a deep ravine with all those on board.

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

Last October, nine people died after a train derailed in the city of Kenzenze in the territory of Mutshatsha in the same province.