Cameroon’s President announced on Saturday that more than 70 people had been killed and another 600 injured when a passenger train crashed on Friday.

The packed Camrail train had been travelling from the capital Yaounde to the port city of Douala. It was derailed at around 11 a.m. local time (1000 GMT) near the station in the town of Eseka, 120 km west of the capital, causing carriages to overturn.

Witnesses said rail workers had added additional carriages to accommodate extra passengers before its departure, though it is not clear if that decision contributed to the accident. </s> At Least 70 Die In Train Derailment In Cameroon; Hundreds Injured

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The death toll is rising at the site of a train derailment in Cameroon, with President Paul Biya saying the crash of the crowded car Friday killed more than 70 people and wounded 600 more. The train was packed with people because rains had washed out a frequently used road Thursday.

"My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families of the #CAMRAIL train derailment in #Eseka," Biya wrote on his Facebook page Saturday.

The derailment occurred around midday Friday on the line that connects Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, to the country's largest city, Douala. Travelers had crowded onto the train because a section of the main road between the two cities had collapsed.

Hours before the crash, the train station in Douala was "mobbed" with people trying to make the trip to the capital, according to local website Karawa's Diary.

As emergency crews and members of the public sought to help victims of the crash in Eseka, some 30 miles away, crews worked through the night to repair the collapsed portion of the road near Matomb — and by midday Saturday, the road was reopened to at least partial use, broadcaster Cameroon Radio Television reports.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation; the privatized train line is operated by Camrail, a French-owned company that's responsible for maintaining the tracks and bridges used by the train. </s> Fifty-three people were killed and nearly 300 injured on Friday when a packed passenger train travelling between Cameroon’s two largest cities derailed and overturned, the transportation minister said.

Speaking on state radio, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o said the figures represented a provisional toll from the incident, which occurred near the train station in the town of Eseka, about 120km (75 miles) west of Yaounde.

Camrail, which is operated by France’s Bollore Railways, confirmed on its Facebook page that an accident had occurred. Passengers put the time of the accident at around 11am.

“There was a loud noise. I looked back and the wagons behind us left the rails and started rolling over and over. There was a lot of smoke,” said a Reuters journalist travelling in a wagon near the front of the train.

He said that, before its departure from Yaounde, a railway employee said eight additional wagons had been added to the normally nine-wagon train to accommodate extra passengers, though it was unclear if that played a role in the accident.

The collapse of a bridge along the main highway between the capital and Douala had prompted increased numbers of passengers to undertake the journey by rail.

Joel Bineli, a passenger, told Reuters he saw the dismembered bodies of three fellow passengers on the tracks at the accident site. Social media users posted photographs purported to have been taken at the scene of the accident which showed several wagons overturned on a slope beside the rail line.

“Rescue workers arrived and they are pulling bodies from the wagon. I’ve already counted around 40 bodies they’ve removed, but I cannot confirm if they are dead or wounded,” said Rachelle Paden, another passenger.

Camrail said it had sent teams to the site but declined to give any further information on the incident. A Bollore spokesman would only confirm that an accident had occurred.

Many rail lines in west and central Africa have a reputation for poor maintenance and failing to respect safety norms. Derailments are relatively common.

Though Bollore is generally viewed as a reliable operator, it experienced another major incident last month when part of a bridge along a line it controls in Ivory Coast collapsed under a freight train. </s> ESEKA, Cameroon (Reuters) - Fourteen people remained trapped on Friday under the wreckage of a packed passenger train that derailed en route between Cameroon’s two largest cities, killing at least 55 and injuring 575, the government said in a communique read on state television.

The Camrail inter-city train was traveling from the capital, Yaounde, to the port city of Douala when the accident occurred around 11 a.m. local time (1000 GMT) near the train station in the town of Eseka, around 120 km (75 miles) west of the capital.

“There was a loud noise. I looked back and the wagons behind us left the rails and started rolling over and over. There was a lot of smoke,” said a Reuters journalist traveling in a wagon near the front of the train.

Before its departure from Yaounde, he said that a railway employee said additional wagons had been added to the train to accommodate extra passengers, though it was unclear if that played a role in the accident.

The collapse of a section of the main highway between the capital and Douala had prompted increased numbers of passengers to undertake the journey by rail. The two incidents, which occurred on the same day, have now effectively cut the main transportation axis in the Central African country of over 22 million.

“There are the bodies of women, children. There are many,” said one employee of Camrail, which is operated by France’s Bollore, speaking from the scene of the accident. He said three of his colleagues were among the victims.

Joel Bineli, a passenger on the derailed train, told Reuters he saw dismembered bodies on the tracks at the accident site.

Social media users posted photos taken at the scene of the accident which showed several wagons overturned on a slope beside the rail line.

“Rescue workers arrived and they are pulling bodies from the wagon. I’ve already counted around 40 bodies they’ve removed,” said Rachelle Paden, another passenger.

Camrail said it had sent teams to the site and the injured were being transported to a local hospital. Others were driven to Douala. It expressed its condolences to victims’ families in a post on its official Facebook page.

A Bollore spokesman confirmed that an accident had occurred, but offered no further details.

Many rail lines in West and Central Africa have a reputation for poor maintenance and failing to respect safety norms. Derailments are relatively common.

Though Bollore is generally viewed as a reliable operator, it experienced another major incident last month when part of a bridge along a line it controls in Ivory Coast collapsed under the weight of a freight train. </s> The government said the train had been carrying 366 people, and the Central News Agency said more than 30 were still trapped on board. (Photo: AP)

Taipei: At least 18 people died and 160 were injured when a train derailed in northeastern Taiwan on Sunday, authorities said.

Several carriages were overturned in the crash, which occurred in Yilan County near the coast on a line popular among tourists.

The government said the train had been carrying 366 people, and the Central News Agency said more than 30 were still trapped on board.

Footage on local TV showed rescuers and dozens of military personnel working through the wreckage on Sunday night in search of survivors, with ambulances stationed nearby.

The toll at 7:45 pm was 18 dead and 160 injured, the fire department said in a statement.

“We will use all our strength and efforts for the rescue,” President Tsai Ing-wen wrote on her Facebook page.

An investigation was under way to find out the cause of the accident, Taiwan Railways Administration said. “The train was in pretty good condition,” its Deputy Chief Lu Chieh-Shen told a news conference.

The authority was also checking to see if any foreigners were on board. </s> A passenger train in South Africa has smashed into a lorry at a level crossing between the towns of Hennenman and Kroonstad killing at least 14 people, injuring 180 and throwing several carriages off the rails
• South Africa train crash leaves at least 14 people dead and scores injured </s> 75 are reported dead and about 600 people injured in Friday’s train derailment accident in Cameroon.

This is a rise in the toll confirmed yesterday which was previously 53 dead, 575 injured and 14 trapped in the carriages.

Original story

A train derailed in Cameroon on Friday reportedly killing about 10 people and injuring over 60 people who were on board.

According to local media, the accident occured in Eseka on the line between the country’s main cities, Douala and the capital, Yaounde. The train was said to be packed.

Pictures circulating on social media showed that the derailed train had overturned near the tracks. Dead bodies and injured persons were also at the scene of the accident. The state owned CRTV showed people giving injured persons first aid.

De nombreux blessés pris en charge et des morts enregistrés lors du déraillement de cette mi-journée m. Le bilan consolidé reste attendu. pic.twitter.com/rGcrspj53M — CRTV web (@CRTV_web) October 21, 2016

“There are many injured. We are still in the phase of evaluating the situation. We cannot give even a provisional toll,” said an official for national rail company Camrail, who asked not to be named.

A local hospital official also confirmed that 10 corpses were brought in from the accident scene. Local journalists confirmed that the train was very packed at the time of the accident.

The French ambassador to Cameroon, Gilles Thibault, tweeted a condolence message to the families and victime of the crash. ‘‘I present condolences saddened families and loved ones of the victims of the crash of the Yaoundé – Douala.’‘

Je présente mes condoléances attristées aux familles et aux proches des victimes de l'accident du train Yaoundé- Douala #Cameroun #Cameroon — Gilles Thibault (@G_Thibault_Fr) October 21, 2016

Rail is one of the key modes of transport in the country. It serves in transporting both people and goods. Due to the speed of rail, people usually cram unto coaches to get to their destinations.

The rail company had earlier denied via its facebook page that there was an accident. They later confirmed the incident and said they were working to provide official details of the incident. </s> The death toll from India's rail disaster rose to 142 on Monday after workers toiled through the night removing victims from the wreckage, with grim warnings that more bodies were trapped inside.

There was little hope of finding survivors among the mangled remains of 14 carriages, which came off the tracks on Sunday in a rural district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

"The actual toll will still be higher and it would be a difficult task to identify all the persons, particularly those whose bodies are very badly damaged," a senior local government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We do not have an exact figure for the injured as of now. Rescue work is still going on," said district police chief Zaki Ahmad as workers cleared the most severely damaged carriages. </s> A train has derailed near the Italian city of Milan, killing at least three people and injuring more than 100.

The Trenord commuter service had been travelling from Cremona, in the Lombardy region, towards Milan's Garibaldi station.

It was carrying hundreds of people, many of them heading to work, when it derailed at Pioltello Limito station on the outskirts of Milan at about 7am, emergency services said.

Two centre carriages came off the rails, coming to rest at an angle.

The field beside the railway lines was filled with emergency vehicles, with rescue workers climbing through the carriages helping passengers to escape.

Cristina Corbetta, an official with the regional emergency services in Milan, told Sky TG24 that about 100 people had suffered minor injuries and 10 had been seriously hurt.

Five or six people are still trapped inside the train, according to the TV station.

The cause of the derailment is not yet clear.

Milan police chief Marcello Cardona told the ANSA news agency: "We have identified a failure between wagons, but all the investigations are still under way to clarify the picture."

The last major train crash on Italy's ageing rail network was in 2016, when 23 people were killed in a two-train collision in Puglia.

In 2009, 32 people died when a freight train carrying liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded in Tuscany.
The death toll from the October 21 crash of a Camrail train rises to at least 73 people with another 600 wounded.