430 People Killed in Train and Plane Crashes in Mozambique and in The Taiwan Strait

26/05/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Technical Problems Caused the Train Crash||Cement Dust from Cargo Carriages Hampering Rescue Work||Cause of Plane Crash in Taiwan Strait Still Unknown||STORY: A horror train crash has claimed the lives of 205 passengers while all 225 people aboard a China airliner that crashed in the Taiwan Strait Saturday are all feared dead as more bodies were retrieved early Sunday. (Read photo caption)

Choking cement dust buried dozens of passengers alive in a horror train crash in Mozambique in which at least 205 people died on Saturday. Three coaches smashed to scrap metal from the train carrying passengers and a cargo of cement from South Africa lay at the rail side in the village of Tenga, 25 miles from the Mozambican capital Maputo.

"We pulled out 13 children, dead," said 29-year-old Ilidio Mondlane, who with his wife, was among just four survivors to escape from the second carriage.

Villagers worked with bare hands to break windows to pull out the injured or retrieve the dead. Cement dust made the work harder and constant coughing could be heard.

Bodies littered the crash site -- thrown out of the train on impact or crushed under seats, under the weight of the cement dust or other goods, witnesses said.

One survivor said the train was going over a steep hill when it appeared to lose power. He said engineers separated the passenger coaches from the freight wagons, which then rolled back into the carriages.

But another passenger said it was the passenger coaches that crashed into the wagons.

Radio Mozambique quoted police and fire department sources as saying the train had "technical problems" with its brakes.
More Bodies Retrieved From Taiwan Plane Crash

MORE BODIES RETRIEVED FROM TAIWAN PLANE CRASH

In the Far East soldiers and rescuers have retrieved 31 bodies from a China Airlines Boeing 747-200 jet that crashed into the Taiwan Strait en route from Taipei to Hong Kong, Taiwan aviation officials said on Sunday.

They said there have been no survivors so far from the plane, which had 225 people aboard.

The cause of the crash is still unknown, but local media has speculated the plane disintegrated in mid-air

PHOTO CAPTION
Bodies of victims lie on the ground at the wreck of the passenger train that crashed into a freight train near Moamba, sixty kilometers south of Maputo in Mozambique, Saturday May 25, 2002. One hundred and ninety six people were reported killed and hundeds more injured. (AP Photo/Domingo, Alfredo Mueche)