A train accident in South Africa caused by cable theft cost the lives of two people and injured several hundreds of commuters in Pretoria this morning, with the train operator calling for a solution to
prevent any reoccurrence of the tragedy.
“It’s time we recognise cable theft as attempted murder,” Metrorail said.
Missing cables caused a moving passenger train to collide with a stationary train because of manual operation mode.
“The metal was torn and crumpled from the force of the two trains colliding,” ER24 spokesperson Vanessa Jackson said.
The train driver and one other passenger is in a critical condition, eight others seriously injured and 300 others, of which 50 are school children, are suffering from injuries.
Power lines on top of the train are also damaged.
Metrorail has entered discussions with the South African government in order to establish a solution along the lines of replacing copper cable with a less wanted commodity to prevent future disasters.
An updated estimate says two people, including the train driver, have sustained critical injuries. Eight people are in a serious condition and 300 injuries have been recorded.
Cable theft continues to be a major problem for the country, amounting to a five billion loss in 2012, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS), HumanIPO reported.
Earlier this month stolen cables disabled local access to emergency services lines.
Further up on the African continent, Nigeria has arrested 17 convicts of cable theft a week ago in Lagos.
