Three injured as trains collide at Rutenga

Zim Now Writer

Two National Railways of Zimbabwe goods trains collided head-on at Rutenga in Masvingo, injuring three crew members and leading to one of the trains derailing.

One of the trains smashed into a stationary one at the Rutenga station.

NRZpublic relations manager, Andrew Kunambura confirmed the accident and said crew members were receiving treatment and recovering well.

“I can confirm that there was an accident at Rutenga in Mwenezi District and there were injuries to crew. Those injured are currently receiving treatment and recovering well,” he said.

He dismissed reports of looting of goods at the scene of the accident.

“Our loss control officers were swift in their response to secure customer goods. There was no looting. Investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of the accident,” said Kunambura.

Kunambura said such accidents were very rare, adding that NRZ takes particular interest in the safe transportation of customer goods.

“The accident happened within our station. As you may be aware, accidents of this nature are very rare, which means the NRZ takes particular interest in the safe and secure transportation of customer goods and there we assure our customers that their goods can be transported as securely as ever,” said Kunambura.

The train which derailed was reportedly carrying chrome.

NRZ recently announced plans to install modern signalling and telecommunications systems with minimal track-side equipment to replace the old system.

This has been necessitated by the numerous cases of vandalism and theft of track-side equipment.