Sudan train tragedy: a dozen dead

May 4, 2008 (Kordofan NSV) - A Sudan Railway Corporation cargo train got in a deadly accident on Saturday evening at Beja Station in Kordofan.

Report emerging from the area indicates bodies of 12 passengers were collected from the scene on Sunday morning. The dead include students from southern Sudan who were going to Khartoum for holidays after completing exams from West Kordofan University in Babanusa where the train took off from.

Unclaimed bodies are still in Fulla mortuary while six seriously injured passengers are in Fulla Hospital.

The director of the railway corporation in Babanusa has confirmed the death of 12 passengers.

A rescue effort is underway to bring crane to lift more than 20 derailed carriages. It is also believed that there are more dead bodies under heavy steel carriages. Rescue team is yet to reach the scene of the accident from El-Obeid which is more than 300km away.

The worse train accident along western corridor was in 1997 when a passenger trained was derailed in Debibat killing hundreds of passengers who were heading for Darfur.