File copy: scene of a train crash

Lualaba Provincial Governor, Richard Mujey, said on Monday that 30 people were killed and more than two dozen injured when a train derailed then caught fire in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The freight train was traveling from the Southern Copper and Cobalt mining hub of Lubumbashi to Luena, in Lualaba province, on Sunday when it left the tracks and tumbled into a ravine near the town of Buyofwe.

“There’s major damage because the tanker cars caught fire,” Mujey told Reuters.

“Around 30 dead and 26 wounded were transferred to the hospital in Lubudi, 25 km from the scene of the accident.”

The train had taken on a number of passengers before the accident, and Mujey said the death toll could rise further.

Eleven of the train’s 13 cars caught fire following the derailment.

Officials from Congo’s national railway company, the SNCC, were investigating the cause of the crash, which was not immediately known.

Rail accidents are relatively common in Congo due to aging, poorly maintained infrastructure and lax enforcement of safety standards.(Reuters/NAN)