"The truck carrying farm workers was hit by a train at a level crossing," Mpumalanga police spokesman Joseph Mabusa told Reuters.
"It is a very gruesome scene. Some bodies are without heads and some without limbs. Forensic teams are still working on the scene," Mabusa said.
The truck was carried 200 meters by the impact, leaving body parts in its wake and making it hard for forensic experts to say how many people were killed, he added. "The driver was taken to hospital. His condition is unknown.
It's difficult to say what happened but at this stage it seems that the truck miscalculated as it was crossing the railway line." Emergency services said at least 24 other people were injured, some of them critically, in the smash near the town of Hectorspruit, about 400 km east of Johannesburg.
State rail operator Transnet said the train was carrying coal for export to Mozambique, but there was no derailment.
The coal was destined for the Indian Ocean port of Maputo. Mpumalanga is one of South Africa's major coal-producing regions.
South Africa's government has announced plans to spend billions of dollars on revamping its creaking rail network, although human error is as often to blame for sporadic accidents.
Traffic accidents with high death tolls are common in South Africa, and often are blamed on negligent drivers and badly maintained roads.
In 2010, a man driving 14 children to school evaded barriers at a crossing near Cape Town and a train crashed into it, killing 10 of his young passengers. The driver was convicted of murder in the deaths of the students and attempted murder in the case of the four surviving children. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Friday 13 July 2012
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48172685
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