Railway accidents

Citation

(2001), "Railway accidents", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310cac.005

Railway accidents

Railway accidents

16 August 2000 – Lela area, Kenya

A train derailed in western Kenya, killing at least seven people and injuring 38 others, railway officials said today. "About seven people have perished but there may be more," Eric Kathanga, public relations officer for the Kenya Railways Corporation, said. "We are waiting for more reports from the scene." Kathanga said the train had come off the rails near Lela, a halt station about 400km north-west of the capital Nairobi, but it was too early to determine the cause of the crash. "It was raining, it was pouring hard at the time of the accident," he said. "A rescue team and an engineering team to investigate the cause of the crash have been sent to the scene." He said it was possible that people could still be trapped inside the train, which was probably carrying around 400 people.

16 August 2000 – A commuter train has ploughed off the rails in western Kenya, killing 13 people and injuring 36 others, police said today. The train, which was travelling between Butere in western Kenya and Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, ploughed off the rails near the town of Lela yesterday evening. Police said 13 people had been killed, most of them crushed to death as four of the train's coaches toppled over. Over 400 people were on the train. Rescuers struggled for several hours to free passengers trapped in the overturned coaches, their efforts hampered by poor weather conditions. There are 13 dead. Ten are adults and three are children. Thirty-six people had been injured and 19 admitted to hospital, three of them in serious condition. Kenya Railway officials began to sift through the wreckage to determine the cause of the crash.

20 August 2000 – Up to 20 people are feared to have died in Tuesday's (August 15) train crash in western Kenya. The train was travelling from Butere to Kisumu in heavy rain when it derailed near Lela. The privately owned Kenyan Television Network last night reported 20 deaths. Police have acknowledged only 13 fatalities, including three children. Passengers were still trapped in the wreckage when the rescue effort had to be suspended owing to heavy rain, the East African Standard reported today. The newspaper quoted railway officials who suggested that the train had been overloaded with passengers, and travelling above the permitted speed limit. About 400 people are believed to have been on the train. The railway line between Butere and Kisumu has been closed indefinitely as a result of the accident. Local police chief, David Korir, said 36 people had been injured and 19 admitted to hospital, three of them in a serious condition.

21 August 2000 – Athi River, Kenya

Kenyan officials are due to launch an inquiry into yesterday's train explosion which killed at least 17 people. The train, which was carrying liquefied gas from Mombasa to Nairobi, exploded and caught fire in Athi River town, some 25km east of the capital. Most of the victims were the residents of nearby houses, which were engulfed in a fireball that spread from the train. Transport Minister, Musalia Mudavadi, said the investigations into the Athi River disaster would be independent and the outcome made public. Nairobi Hospital officials said 37 people had been admitted for treatment. The goods train, which was carrying eight tanker wagons of gas to Nairobi, overturned just after midnight. Reports say that some of the rear wagons became detached from the rest of the train on a steep hill, rolled backwards down the slope, left the track, and then exploded. The fire was still smouldering yesterday evening, and services on the Mombasa-Nairobi line were suspended.

22 August 2000 – The death toll from a weekend train car derailment and explosion in Kenya has risen to 25, officials said today. Sixteen people were killed at the scene when nine runaway train cars – six carrying liquefied gas – went off the tracks at a station south of Nairobi around midnight Saturday, (August 19) exploding and consuming nearby houses. Since then, nine of the 37 injured people have died of their burns in hospitals, officials said. Joseph Mbwiria, a spokesman for Kenyatta Hospital, said most of the other wounded patients have burns over at least 60 per cent of their bodies. The majority of those hurt or killed were railway employees and their families who lived in homes inside Athi station's grounds, 15 miles south of the capital. Some of the 30 houses around the station were reduced to charred rubble. Most of the dead – many of whom were burnt to unrecognisable ashes – were sleeping when the train cars derailed and blew up.