More than 400 passengers escaped with no injuries Tuesday night when the train they were travelling on derailed leaving two locomotive heads completely submerged in water.
The train was bound for the upcountry when it derailed at about 7.25 pm at the Ruvu station. But passengers in the third class compartment narrowly escaped death when their coach nearly tumbled after the submerged locomotives.
A statement released yesterday by the Tanzania Railway Limited (TRL) confirmed the accident but indicated that no one was injured in the incident. The statement did not give the cause of the accident but only said engineers had rushed to the scene.
It said the engineers would rectify the problem to allow the normal resumption of services. Stranded passengers spent over eight hours at the accident scene before they were returned to Dar es Salaam after 4 am yesterday to board another train. The TRL public relations office said the passengers were compensated a total of Sh1.3 million for supper and breakfast.
They were scheduled to leave last evening at 5 pm for their various destinations. Most of them were going to Mwanza, Tabora and Kigoma.
