Time 5:00 am Trains 1 Date 25 May 2002 Total number of deaths 192 Location Tenga, Mozambique | Type of incident Runaway Injuries 167 Location Maputo, Mozambique Country Mozambique | |
Rail line Maputo railroad / CFM Sul Operator Mozambique Ports and Railways Similar 2002 Jaunpur train crash, Armagh rail disaster, Rafiganj train wreck, Saint‑Michel‑de‑Maurienne derailment, Lagny‑Pomponne rail accident | ||
The Tenga rail disaster of May 25, 2002 occurred at Tenga 40 km north-west from Maputo, Mozambique causing 192 deaths and 167 injured.
Contents
Overview
The train comprised carriages containing 600 people and several wagons loaded with South African cement. The carriages were uncoupled about 5 km from Tenga, possibly as part of a manoeuvre by the train crew. The carriages then rolled down the line into Tenga, and crashed into the stationary rail wagons loaded with cement from the train which were coupled to the locomotive.
Three days of mourning were declared by then President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano.
Cause
The crash was blamed on human error and a manoeuvre that went wrong. It appears that the crew were intending to go back and pick up the carriages. The worst casualties were in the first two carriages. Hence it appears that the carriages crashed into part of the same train, not a following train.
Similar accidents
Similar accidents can help explain the current one.