BULAWAYO – Travellers in Beitbridge faced long delays on Sunday after a goods train drove into a haulage truck at a rail crossing 5km from the southern border town.
The truck driver appeared to have misjudged the approach of the South Africa-bound train, which rammed into the truck’s trailer and derailed.
The incident took place at around 5PM.
The derailment caused major damage to the train tracks which were uprooted for a stretch of about 50 meters.
The wreck cut off the road connecting Beitbridge and Masvingo, leaving hundreds of motorists stranded either side.
As the evening wore on Sunday, motorists had mapped a tortuous new route connecting them to the Beitbridge-Gwanda road.
Engineers from the National Railways of Zimbabwe were on the scene to begin the salvage job – but reopening the road could take many hours, if not days.
@ZBCNewsonline #BreakingNews goods train derails in Beitbridge after ramming into a haulage truck trailer. Injured train crew taken to hospital. Beitbtidge-Masvingo highway blocked at rain crossing pic.twitter.com/2S0NWqJ0oj
— Mhlomuli Ncube (@Mhlozbc) November 11, 2018
Witnesses said the train crew had been taken to hospital, while the truck driver had escaped without injury.
