EXTERIOR SHOTS OF SHATTERED COACHES STREWN ALONG THE TRACK; INTERIOR SHOTS OF DAMAGE AND THE PERSONAL EFFECTS OF THOSE KILLED AND INJURED BY THE IMPACT.




Initials JM/S/BHH/ES



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: THE OFFICIAL BOARD OF INJURY INTO THE DURBAN TRAIN DISASTER OPENED TODAY (WEDNESDAY). THE REVISED OFFICIAL FIGURES ON THE DISASTER, LIST 81 AFRICANS DEAD AND 130 INJURED. THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED ON MONDAY EVENING ABOUT 10-MILES OUTSIDE DURBAN, WHEN THE THREE REAR COACHES WERE DERAILED. THE TRAIN WAS PACKED WITH AN ESTIMATED 1500 AFRICANS RETURNING HOME FROM WORK IN THE CENTRE OF THE CITY... IN THE MINUTES FOLLOWING THE DISASTER, ENRAGED AFRICANS CROWDS TURNED ON TWO WHITE SIGNALMEN, STABBING AND BATTERING ONE TO DEATH, AND BADLY INJURING THE OTHER.

POLICE AND VOLUNTEER RESCUE WORKERS TOILED AMONGST THE WRECKAGE ALL NIGHT IN THE LIGHT OF CAR HEADLIGHTS AND ARC LAMPS. BODIES WERE SCATTERED FOR HUNDREDS OF YARDS ALONG THE TRACK, WHILE THE SCREAMS OF THE DYING MINGLED WITH THE WAILS OF THOSE MOURNING.

YESTERDAY EVENING (TUESDAY), THE RAILWAY AUTHORITIES IN JOHANNESBURG SAID 51 OF THE INJURED WERE STILL DETAINED IN HOSPITAL.

(THE PREVIOUS WORST RAILWAY DISASTER IN SOUTH AFRICA WAS A THREE-TRAIN CRASH NEAR ORLANDO IN APRIL, 1949 WHEN 72 PEOPLE WERE KILLED AND 92 INJURED.)