14 Black Workers Die in South Africa Train Derailment
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A special Easter holiday train packed with black workers derailed north of Pretoria today, killing 14 people and injuring dozens, rail officials said.
Adriaan Jacobs, assistant railway police commissioner for security, said “an act of sabotage cannot be ruled out” because people “reported certain observations” before the derailment.
The rail official refused to give details but said investigators found no evidence of an explosion.
The African National Congress, which is waging a guerrilla war against white rule in South Africa, regularly sabotages signal systems and rail lines. The rail line involved today is used by trains for both blacks and whites.
Rail officials said five coaches and three locomotives derailed on the Pretoria-Pietersburg line 6 miles north of Pretoria. Forty-six injured blacks were treated at AHF Verwoed hospital for white patients, a rare occurrence in South Africa.
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