Railway accidents

Citation

(1999), "Railway accidents", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308aac.008

Railway accidents

Railway accidents

2 February 1998 ­ Sihala, near Pindi, Pakistan

A Press report from Rawalpindi, dated 1 February, states: 12 people were killed and several others injured on Saturday (31 January) when the Karachi-bound Zulfikar express derailed and ploughed into a level crossing at Sihala, 25 km east of Pindi. First the engine of the train skidded off the track, smashing into the roadside mosque and then four front coaches too derailed. When the train reached the Sihala level crossing at 1545 hrs the driver lost control. The engine and four coaches derailed and ploughed into the nearby mosque. The derailed carriages were badly damaged and heavy cranes had to be used to remove them from the sand. The carriages were, however, lying at the site of the accident late Sunday night and authorities were making arrangements to bring them to the railway workshop. After removing the damaged carriages and the engine, new coaches and an engine were joined onto the train for onward journey. A committee has been formed to ascertain the cause of the accident.

15 February 1998 ­ Yaounde, Cameroon

The death toll from an inferno sparked by the explosion of two petroleum tanker trains in the Cameroon capital Yaounde is 120, state radio said today. More than 150 people suffered burns, most of them critically, after huge flames swept through a crowd of people scooping up petrol spilling from the tankers which had collided yesterday. Many witnesses said the explosion, in Yaounde's southern suburb of Nsam, near a petroleum depot, was ignited by a burning cigarette dropped carelessly by someone in the crowd. It was not clear what caused the collision of the two trains, one heading out of Yaounde and the other coming in. Both were pulling petroleum tanker cars.

16 February 1998 ­ The death toll from an inferno after two petroleum tanker trains exploded in the Cameroon capital Yaounde has risen to 120, state radio said. It is also reported that France will send six tonnes of burn medications as emergency aid.

6 March 1998 ­ Jyvaskyla, Finland

Eleven people died and and more than 30 were injured in a train crash in central Finland today, officials said. Railway officials said an engine and seven carriages of a passenger train derailed as it approached a station in the town of Jyvaskyla. "There are ten dead at the scene of the accident and one dead here at the hospital", senior physician Tapio Tervo at the Central Finland Regional Hospital said. The hospital was treating 33 injured people, but none of them was in immediate danger, Tervo said. He said all survivors were at the hospital. The accident took place just before 14:00 (12:00 GMT).

7 March 1998 ­ Finnish accident investigators said today a train that crashed in central Finland yesterday, killing ten people and injuring more than 40, was travelling faster than it should have been as it went into a track switch. The investigators said the derailment appeared to be due to human error but they stopped short of pinning the blame on either of the train drivers. One of the drivers was killed in the crash and the other was injured. "The train came into the switch much faster than the 35 kilometres per hour that it should have been travelling", chief accident investigator Kari Lehtola said. The crash "appeared mainly to have been the result of human error", Lshtola said. He ruled out technical failure in the engine but said the investigation was still unfinished. Railway officials said yesterday the engine and seven carriages were derailed as the train approached a station in the town of Jyvaskyla. Police said all ten of those killed were Finns. The train had been carrying about 500 passengers.