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Villager averts rail disaster
2005-12-30 09:55:18
By Patrick Kisembo
A lone villager in Kilombero District saved over 600 people travelling in a Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) passenger train from possible death and injury earlier this week.
The unidentified woman alerted the driver of the train after noticing that a section of the tracks had been unbolted near Machipi Mahero Village, about four kilometres from Ifakara Station.
A passenger who asked not to be named told The Guardian yesterday that the woman, who was on her way to her shamba, noticed that the rails were loose after unknown people had removed bolts, nuts and clips from the tracks.
She decided to warn the driver of the train travelling from the Zambian town of Kapiri Mposhi to Dar es Salaam of the impending danger by hoisting a red khanga cloth on a long stick, which she stuck in the middle of the rails.
The train arrived a few minutes later, but the driver either did not see the warning or deliberately chose to ignore it, and the villager decided to take further action after it dawned on her that the train was not going to stop.
’’She then stood in the middle of the tracks as she frantically waved her khanga. This forced the driver to stop the train and find out what was wrong.
It was then that we discovered that the tracks had been unbolted nor very far from the spot,’’ she said.
Technicians were dispatched from Ifakara Station and it took them three hours to fix the problem.
’’A disaster could have happened had it not been for the courageous woman… I’m not sure if we would still be alive,’’ the passenger said.
Tazara Finance and Public Relations Manager Pascal Mulenga confirmed the incident.
’’The incident happened between bridges number 96 and 97 and this looks like an act of sabotage,’’ he said.
Mulenga said a Good Samaritan stopped the train about 700 metres from where the rails were unbolted, and added that a serious accident could have happened had it not been for the ’’timely intervention.’’
’’It’s shocking to imagine what would have happened. It would have been a very serious accident indeed,’’ he said.
The train arrived in Dar es Salaam at around 10pm on Wednesday after a delay of almost six hours.
The train left Mbeya at 2.10pm on Tuesday and was supposed to have arrived in Dar es Salaam at 4.10pm on Wednesday.
Mulenga denied, however, that the rails were removed, saying they had been left loose after fastenings were removed and added that it had not been established who was behind the act.
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