Igandu train disaster

The railway accident Igandu occurred on 24 June 2002, as on the single Tanganjikabahn (Tanzania ), a passenger of the Tanzania Railways Corporation in a gradient " ran away " and between the stations Igandu and Msagali, approximately at kilometer 390 on a freight train collided. With 281 dead, this was after the railway accident Ayyat in Egypt, the most consequential train accident that ever occurred in Africa.

Starting position

The passenger train from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma was with about 1,000 travelers in the morning just before Dodoma road. With its fully loaded 22 car he was very long and heavy. Before Kikombo station there was a problem with the brake system, after which the train was stopped to safely overcome the slope. Shortly before he had crossed a freight train that was traveling in the opposite direction.

Circumstances of the accident

To sufficiently build momentum for the onward journey in the slope, put the engineer back to the train, but it could not longer have to stop because the brakes failed now final. The reports describe it as a " mechanical problem ". The train rolled downhill further to the rear. With increasing speed of the train for half an hour rolled about 35 km of route backwards and went through it, the two stations Munase and Igandu. From the traveler who noticed that the train was out of control, some jumped off the road yet. Between the stations Igandu and Msagali the passenger train arrived around 8:30 clock on there relatively slow-moving freight train in the direction of Dar es Salaam. 21 cars of the passenger train derailed and slid partially into and over one another.

Follow

281 people came to our life, more than 400 were seriously injured. 88 corpses were so mangled that they could no longer be identified. They were buried in a cemetery at Dodoma. The consequences of the accident were compounded by significant shortage of doctors in the region. The hospital in Dodoma was completely overcrowded. Next was missing at the accident scene first heavy technical equipment to disassemble the crashed cars and get hold fast to accident victims. This met only towards evening.

Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye ordered a two-day national mourning. Families and relatives of the victims later received compensation from the state-owned Tanzania Railways Corporation in the amount from 100,000 to 500,000 Tanzanian shillings.