Train stampede kills seven

Seven people were killed and nine injured in South Africa as passengers rushed to reach a platform at a railway station in Johannesburg.

The accident happened at Park Station on Friday night as commuters ran down a flight of stairs to catch a main line passenger train bound for the city of Mafikeng.

There was blood everywhere and women and children were screaming

Eyewitness John Male

The crowd pressed down the stairs, but those at the front found themselves confronted by closed gates.

In the crush which followed, three women, two men and two children died.

Gates locked

Police spokesman Willem de Villiers said that, according to some witnesses, the stampede followed a confrontation between passengers and security guards.

Mr De Villiers said a sign above the entrance had warned commuters that the gates would be locked 10 minutes before the train's departure.

"Some people pushed up and some pushed down, and seven died," he said.

John Male from Pretoria told The Citizen newspaper: "There was blood everywhere and women and children were screaming."

"I thought I would be pulled down in the stampede, but managed to hold on to a steel railing. All around me people were falling and being trampled by the surging crowd."

Investigation

Eyewitness Abenego Lehihi, who lost two relatives in the stampede, criticised officials for closing the gate in the first place.

"People were trying to get to the platform but they couldn't because of the gate. Security guards ... were hitting them with batons."

He also accused the rail company Spoornet of not having enough ticket inspectors to deal with the rush of people heading home for the weekend.

Bintu Petsana, a spokeswoman for the state railway said the company had expressed its condolences to the friends and families of those killed.

She said a full investigation would be carried out into the accident.

This is the second major incident at a South African railway station in less than two weeks. Last month, angry commuters set fire to Pretoria station in a protest over poor service and long delays.