Johannesburg - A total of 644 passengers were injured, two critically, when two trains collided in Meadowlands, Soweto on Thursday, Johannesburg paramedics said. "We had a total of two men who were critically injured and airlifted to Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, and 642 with minor and serious injuries," Netcare 911 spokesperson Jeff Wicks told Sapa from the scene.
"[The increase in total injuries] shows the chaos of the scene. We had people who were sprayed 200m around the trains...on arrival, paramedics found passengers from both trains lying on the track," he said.
Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Synock Matobako said that about 150 of the injured were transported to various hospitals in the area.
A Sapa reporter on the scene said that a moving train had seemingly hit a stationary train at Phomolong station around 17:30.
Onlookers
Curious Sowetans had rushed to the scene out of concern for possible injured relatives.
"I heard a loud bang while watching television and came rushing to see if any of my relatives were in the train," said bystander Teko Peu.
He was expecting his sister to arrive by the train from work.
"I haven't heard from her and I wonder whether she is among the injured."
Gladwell Ntusi, who was in one of the trains said he heard a loud bang, screams and he realised something was wrong.
"People were screaming, some jumped out of the windows," he said.
"It was horrible, I saw people with broken legs, other had cracked their temples... it was not a nice scene," he said his eyes red with tears. Read More
