INLSA
Emergency personnel assess the scene in Reunion where a train left the tracks after hitting a car. Picture: Shelley Kjonstad
Twenty people were injured, one seriously, when a train hit a car that had crashed and landed on the railway lines while trying to evade police in Reunion on Thursday afternoon.
Metro police officers manning a roadblock in Reunion had instructed the Opel Astra driver to pull over.
However, he drove past them and the officers gave chase. The driver failed to negotiate a bend and crashed through a bridge and landed on the railway line below.
Witnesses said the man quickly got out of the car and fled.
A Metrorail train bound for Umlazi then struck the car and left the tracks.
The badly damaged car came to rest between the train and a retaining wall.
A witness said he heard a loud screech followed by screams.
“I rushed to the scene and could not believe what I saw. I thought that people had died,” he said.
Netcare911 spokesman Jeff Wicks said the injured were stabilised at the scene before being taken to the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi.
Metrorail spokeswoman Thandi Mkhize said that the line to Umlazi would be closed until Friday.
“We hope to open one line by (Friday),” she said.
“Passengers going to or coming from Umlazi will have to use alternative transport.”
Mkhize said buses had been arranged to transport the train passengers who were not injured in the collision. She said it was too early to estimate what it would cost to repair the damage.
Police are searching for the Opel driver. – The Mercury
See the article here:
Driver evading roadblock derails train