PHOTO: South Africa commuter trains collide near Pretoria
At least 300 people,
including many schoolchildren, have been injured after two passenger
trains collided near the South African capital, Pretoria, officials say.
Medical workers say 28 people were seriously hurt.The theft of cables used for signalling, compounded by human error, caused the crash, said the head of South Africa's rail authority.
South Africa is in the process of overhauling of its ageing rail network.
The early morning accident happened when a train crashed into a stationary train near Attridgeville, a township west of Pretoria.
"Both of the trains were full of commuters and between them were lots of schoolchildren on the way to school," a spokesman for the regional emergency services told the AFP news agency.
A helicopter has airlifted one of the train drivers to a nearby hospital after he was trapped in the wreckage
for two hours.
"When cables are stolen, it affects our signalling system we then move to what we call manual operations," said rail authority head Mosenngwa Mofi.
In 2011, at least 800 people were injured when a speeding train hit a stationary one near the township of Soweto.
