Congo: Officials to probe train accident that killed 17

Congolese officials say an investigation will be opened to ascertain the cause of a train accident that killed 17 people on the night of Sunday June 30 to Monday July 1, 2019.

The accident which occurred in Pointe Noire, the economical capital of the Congo Republic left 25 others injured.

This is the fourth rail accident after those of Mvoungouti in 1992 and 2005, then that of Yanga in 2012. Many families besieged the municipal morgue to identify bodies of their loved ones.

“It was my brother’s wife who died. She had come to sell cqnopy and wanted to go back to Les Sarra, but unfortunately arrived in Ngondji. She was involved in the accident and died on the spot, totally disfigured. It was by the name written on her arm that we had recognized her and the body was registered”, a resident, Roland Nganga said.

Officials of the Congo Ocean Railway deplore the accident, which has again claimed the lives of its people.

“Unfortunately, this is a railway that is not immune to any incident. It is one of those things, even in the railways that we think we are more developed. Unfortunately, the accident saw several people injured and even more, we deplore the loss of human lives. We did not need that, unfortunately these things happen. We will open an investigation to determine the cause’‘, said
Jean Claude Tchibassa Loubouboungou, Director General of the Congo Ocean Rail Company.

The Congo railway company, which is struggling to restart its activities after the long shutdown caused by the Pool crisis, is still in turmoil.

Workers on the Congo Ocean Railway have been working for several months without pay.