At least 60 people have died and some 450 injured in a passenger train accident in the Republic of Congo.
The accident happened in the early hours of Tuesday about 60km from the southern city of Pointe Noire, Joseph Sauveur El Bez, managing director of the railway operator, said.
The train was leaving the coastal town of Pointe Noire en route to the capital Brazzaville when it derailed, throwing four carriages of the train into a ravine.
"There was a grave train accident during the night," El Bez said.
"There are dozens of victims and injured."
He said bodies of the dead and the injured had been taken to morgues and hospitals in Pointe Noire.
Relatives of the dead and injured filled the railway stations at Pointe Noire and Dolisie, anxious for news of their loved ones, witnesses in the cities said.
Few details were available of the accident, however, from the rail company or the government.
The 510km CFCO line is the main link between the capital Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire on the Atlantic and mainly follows the Congo river.
Past deaths
It was built between 1921 and 1934 during French colonial rule and thousands of Africans are said to have died making the railway.
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Congo-Ocean Railway |
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Built between 1921 and 1934 by French |
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At least 17,000 people died building the railway |
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The line was closed in the late 1990s during the country's civil war |
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At least 50 people were killed in a 2001 accident |
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10 died in 2003 accident when a train derailed |
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In 2007, about 100 people died in an accident |
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At least 50 people were killed on the same line in 2001, many of them burned to death, when two trains collided at Mvougounti around 75km east of Pointe Noire.
In August 2007, about 100 people died when a passenger train slammed into a freight train, also at Mvougounti.
The lack of roads and the dysfunctional railway system between the main towns make travel difficult and contribute to the high cost of food and imported goods in the capital and throughout neighbouring land-locked nations.
Chinese engineers started work late last year on a $500m road linking the oil hub of Pointe Noire with Brazzaville, a project that will involve crossing equatorial forests and steep mountains.
Congo, which has long exported millions of barrels of oil but remains mostly poor and suffers from poor infrastructure, is seeking to diversify its economy as oil reserves wind down.