SA train crash kills 11

The Metrorail train ran into goods wagons

Eleven people are reported killed and at least 30 injured in a train crash near Cape Town.

Five coaches were derailed when a commuter train collided with a freight train in the afternoon rush hour.

Four of the injured are in critical condition.

South Africa's commuter rail network has been hit by a series of accidents, but this was described as the worst in the Western Cape for 20 years by railway officials.

Crushed

The accident happened about 50km (30 miles) north east of Cape Town, between Kraaifontein and Muldersvlei at about 1700 (1500GMT).

The driver of the Metrorail train was the last to be freed

"It appears that a (Spoornet) goods train was standing on the line and the Metrorail train crashed into the back," said South African Transport Minister Dullah Omar.

Most of the fatalities occurred when people were thrown from the passenger train by the force of the impact, and then crushed when coaches derailed.

"We were compelled to look at dismembered bodies. We saw bodies being picked up, put into body bags," said Mr Omar.

The driver of the passenger train was trapped in the wreckage for a number of hours, but was eventually rescued.

One eyewitness said the passenger train appeared to have almost snapped into two.

It has yet to be established why the accident happened.

The country's worst rail accident in recent history was in 1994 when a train derailed near Durban, killing 67 people.