A South African luxury Rovos Rail train carrying at least 47 tourists to Zimbabwe for Easter collided with another locomotive on Friday.
The accident derailed carriages and injured several people on board, the operating company and a local rail employee confirmed.
Four crew members of the Rovos Rail train, which was travelling from Pretoria to Victoria Falls, were hurt in the collision with a freight train in Zimbabwe, the luxury service’s spokeswoman Liezl Maclean told AFP.
Click HERE to view more images from the horror crash (warning)
“There were no injuries in terms of the guests that we are aware of,” she told AFP, adding some were under observation.
Carrying a man on a stretcher
However, a staff member at the local rail service, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorised to speak to media, put the total number of injured at 18.
He said 14 of them were admitted to Gwanda Provincial Hospital, and four to Mater Dei in Bulawayo.
He did not specify how many were passengers or crew, nor if the count included any injured on the freight train.
Images shared on social media showed rescue workers carrying a man on a stretcher through a gap in the mangled roof of the wreckage.
The incident in Zimbabwe’s southern town of Gwanda involved the Rovos Rail train and a freight train operated by the Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway service.
At least 47 tourists were on the Rovos Rail train at the time of the accident, according to Maclean.
As at the time of publishing, it was not clear what had caused the accident.
Established in 1989, Rovos says it offers “bespoke train safaris through the heart of Africa,” with trips from South Africa’s Cape Town to Tanzania’s coastal city of Dar Es Salaam.
The Victoria Falls package features a three-or-four night 1 400km journey going from Pretoria in South Africa to Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo.
Is a Rovos Rail trip on your bucket list?
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1
Subscribe to The South African website’s newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
