No clarity on cause of Berlin smash

It was still too early to say what caused the head-on collision between a passenger and goods train near Berlin late yesterday.

This was stated by the spokeswoman for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), Nana Zenani.

“The unfortunate report is that one of our Shosholoza Meyl trains – which is our long distance train – was involved in a head-on collision with a Transnet goods train.

“At this point our priority is to secure those commuters that have been injured and make sure that they are transported to various hospitals for further and urgent medical care.

“At this stage it still very early to determine the cause of the accident and this will form part of the bigger investigation.

“We do not have an official number of how many people were in the trains as yet.”

Transnet spokesman Mike Asefovitz said three of their employees were seriously injured – a driver, cabin crew member and an assistant.

He said it was unclear when the trains would be moved from the line.

Yesterday’s accident follows a similar one last month in Johannesburg in which a Prasa female employee was killed when a Business Express train rammed into a stationary Metro Plus train at Denver train station.

More than 200 people were injured.

One of the train drivers was airlifted to hospital.

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters cancelled all meetings and rushed to the scene of the accident. She told reporters she had asked Prasa to launch an immediate investigation to determine the cause.

“We always make sure that safety is the first priority,” Peters said at the time.