At Least 140 Killed in Kenyan Train Crash

At least 140 people, some of them tourists, were killed Saturday when a Kenyan train with about 600 passengers aboard crashed into a bridge and plunged into a flood-swollen river, police and railway officials said.

Hundreds of people were missing or injured in the crash, the worst since the east African nation gained independence from Britain in 1963.

Kenya Railways Chairman Jeremiah Musuva said a conductor pulled an emergency cord to release third-class coaches from the rest of the train, saving many of the passengers.

Among those killed in first- and second-class cars were an unidentified European and a Canadian woman who had been identified but whose name was being withheld.

“It appears the train was forced off course by the floods, hit the bridge and crashed into the river Ndethia Geithia. Five other coaches followed,” a rescue team leader said.

The accident spot is in uninhabited shrub land four miles from the main Mombasa-Nairobi road.

The bridge, on the main rail route from the resort of Mombasa to the Lake Victoria port of Kisumu, was eroded by the raging flash floods and collapsed under the weight of the train’s head and first coaches.

Police Commissioner Philip Kilonzo said many survivors may have abandoned the crash scene after the accident, but his department had no clear information.

He said rescue efforts would continue for at least two days before a final death toll is reached.