INLSA
File photo: Bongiwe Mchunu
Durban – Three suspected cable thieves were killed by a train in KwaMashu after they were chased through the township by community members and, apparently, tried to escape by running along the railway line before dawn on Wednesday.
A fourth man escaped and disappeared.
Metrorail spokeswoman Thandi Mkhize said the train driver saw the men on the tracks and hooted several times to warn them of his approach, but it appeared they were unaware of the train.
Although the driver braked he could not stop the train in time.
Mado Mbasa, the deputy chairwoman of KwaMashu’s community police forum, said the men had stolen copper pipes and cables and were trying to dodge CPF members who were after them.
A Metrorail employee, who saw the accident, said the train was coming into Thembalethu Station at 5am when he saw four men wearing army uniforms run in front of it.
“The driver flashed the lights and hooted, but it was too late, they were too close,” he said.
“It was a gruesome scene. We could not even look at them.” The traumatised driver was sent home.
“He (the driver) cannot talk, eat or sleep because he keeps thinking about what happened,” the Metrorail employee said.
On Wednesday, when The Mercury visited the scene where authorities were still trying to remove the bodies, a takkie of one of the victims lay on one side.
Community members stood around watching the clean-up and told The Mercury team that they had not seen or heard anything.
However, one resident said he suspected the men were pushed on to the rails by the community to punish them for stealing. But this was denied by Metrorail witnesses.
The suspected thieves had a bag “full of cables and credit cards” lying next to them, one man said.
Mkhize cautioned communities living close to railway lines to always use bridges and avoid crossing railway lines because of the risk.
She also said Metrorail was a victim of cable theft and was battling the issue.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said KwaMashu detectives had opened an inquest docket.
Beaten
He said police would investigate whether or not the men were beaten and then thrown in front of the train.
Zwane confirmed that copper wire was found lying next to them and called on the community to contact the police if they had any information.
* Metrorail’s website says cable theft has cost the organisation millions of rand and the cables stolen from the lines fetch meagre amounts from scrap metal dealers in the illegal market.
“The continued theft of cables and sleepers remains a major cause of disruption to our services.
“We cannot even begin to equate the monetary value of the copper in the stolen cable with that of our commuters’ lives that are endangered through this criminal behaviour; nor can it be compared to the negative impact it has on the punctuality of our trains,” the website says.
lungelo.mkamba@inl.co.za
The Mercury
