{"id":12391,"date":"2012-07-14T00:42:03","date_gmt":"2012-07-13T22:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/07\/update-5-coal-train-hits-truck-in-s-africa-24-dead\/"},"modified":"2012-07-14T00:42:03","modified_gmt":"2012-07-13T22:42:03","slug":"update-5-coal-train-hits-truck-in-s-africa-24-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-5-coal-train-hits-truck-in-s-africa-24-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 5-Coal train hits truck in S.Africa, 24 dead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Truck hit by train, cut in half<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Victims were farm workers<\/p>\n<p> (Updates death toll, changes dateline)<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>By Siphiwe Sibeko<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>MALELANE, South Africa, July 13 (Reuters) &#8211; A coal train<br \/>\nploughed into a farm truck at a level crossing in South Africa<br \/>\non Friday, cutting it in half and killing 24 workers on their<br \/>\nway to pick fruit &#8211; the latest tragedy to hit the country&#8217;s<br \/>\nageing rail network.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Regional police spokesman Joseph Mabusa said it appeared the<br \/>\ntruck driver had miscalculated when crossing the track, leaving<br \/>\nhis vehicle directly in the path of a freight train carrying<br \/>\ncoal to neighbouring Mozambique.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is a very gruesome scene. Some bodies are without heads<br \/>\nand some without limbs. Forensic teams are still working on the<br \/>\nscene,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The impact, at a rural rail crossing 400 km (250 miles) east<br \/>\nof Johannesburg, dragged the truck 200 metres (660 feet) down<br \/>\nthe track, dismembering its occupants and making it hard for<br \/>\nforensic experts to say exactly how many people had been killed.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The truck driver survived the accident and was taken to<br \/>\nhospital along with at least 20 other victims, some of whom were<br \/>\nin a critical condition. He was expected to be charged with<br \/>\nculpable homicide, or even murder, local media reported.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>State rail operator Transnet said the train was carrying<br \/>\ncoal for export to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, but that<br \/>\nthere was no derailment. South Africa is one of the world&#8217;s<br \/>\nbiggest coal exporters, and the line is a major transit route.<br \/>\n\u00a0 <span class=\"label\"><strong>Continued&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>* Truck hit by train, cut in half * Victims were farm workers (Updates death toll, changes dateline) By Siphiwe Sibeko MALELANE, South Africa, July 13 (Reuters) &#8211; A coal train ploughed into a farm truck at a level crossing in South Africa on Friday, cutting it in half and killing 24 workers on their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-12391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12391\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}