12 killed, more than 260 injured in South Africa passenger train crash

A passenger train carrying people home after the holidays slammed into a truck in rural South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 260 others, the government said.

Authorities blamed the truck driver for allegedly trying to cross the tracks just ahead of the oncoming train, part of which burst into flames after the collision and forced passengers to hurriedly drag their luggage from the smoking wreck to a nearby road.

“The truck driver was taking chances. He thought that he was going to pass through,” Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi told journalists. “Little did he know that the train was going to hit him. That has cost a lot of lives.”

At least 12 people died and 268 were injured, four of them critically, said Maswanganyi. He indicated that the death toll could rise.

The train with 429 passengers aboard had been traveling from Port Elizabeth to the country’s commercial hub, Johannesburg.