Nyazura, Zimbabwe — With Zimbabwe’s railroad network in a massive state of disrepair, a goods train killed the driver and injured three crew members last week, 9th March, after it derailed owing to breaks failure in Nyazura in the country’s Manicaland province as the goods train headed to Beira in Mozambique loaded with chrome ore.
The fatal accident occurred at a curve along a steep stretch at Tsungwezi in Nyazura.
The goods train loaded to the brim with chrome ore was coming from Mutorashanga, apparently a small ferrochrome mining town in Mashonaland West province in Zimbabwe.
Police spokesperson for Rusape district in the vicinity of Nyazura where the accident transpired, Assistant Inspector Muzondiwa Clean, confirmed the accident which happened late on Tuesday.
“The driver of a goods train tried to apply brakes as he approached the curve on the steep stretch around Tsungwezi, but it failed, resulting in the accident,” said Muzondiwa.
Over the decades, Zimbabwe’s rail infrastructure has faced dilapidation due to lack of regular maintenance, resulting in a series of railroad accidents that have claimed hundreds of lives.
Just in December last year, two National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) employees died while seven others were injured when a goods train traveling from Hwange to Bulawayo derailed at Redbank Siding, approximately 40 kilometers outside Bulawayo.