Zimbabwe Area manager Stanley Murenje told The
Zimbabwean
that the accident between the freight train and the “Freedom Train” was
attributed to faulty signals.
“The freight train, which was loaded with granite stone coming from
Mutoko
was
given the green light to proceed yet there was another train on the
same track,” Murenje said. “We don’t know how this happened. We are still
investigating. But we are very sorry about what happened here,” he said
The Zimbabwean understands NRZ workers were on go-slow at the time of
the accident in a stand off over poor salaries.
A police spokesman said he was not exactly sure how many had perished.
But50 injured passengers had been pulled out from the mangled wreck of the
trains.
“They have all been rushed to hospital,” he said.
The majority of those injured were rushing to work in the morning. The
“Freedom Train” was overcrowded, according to witnesses. An acute
shortage of fuel and transport has forced many to resort to the Freedom Train for
transportation to and from work. The Freedom Train charges $8,000 for a
single trip to town while commuters are charging anything up to $50,000.
An acute foreign currency squeeze has intensified a fuel shortage in
the country, causing a massive shortage in transport.