DR Congo train derailment leaves 14 dead

KINSHASA - A cargo train belonging to the Congo National Railway Company (SNCC) derailed on Sunday in the central west of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), leaving 14 people dead and many others injured.

The accident occurred at the Bukaka railway station. The train was coming from Ilebo, 25 km away, to Kananga in Kasai-Occidental province.

According to survivors, the number of victims could increase because other bodies were still trapped in the four wagons that overturned killing the 14 people instantly.

The survivors said the cargo train was carrying passengers who wanted to move together with their goods which they were transporting to the market.

The exact number of these passengers remains unknown, before an official report on the incident.

Train accidents are frequent in DR Congo because of the poor state of the locomotives and the dilapidated state of the railway line, which was constructed during the colonial period and has never been repaired since the Central African country obtained independence in 1960.

The SNCC has most trains operating in DR Congo, with its network running through the central west, northeast, southeast and east.

The company operates in seven provinces including Kasai- Occidental, Kasai-Oriental, Katanga, South Kivu, Maniema, North Kivu and Orientale.