Awash railway accident

In the Awash railway accident on January 14, 1985, a passenger train derailed near the city of Awash , Ethiopia . 428 people died. This was probably the worst railway accident in the history of Africa .

Starting position

The train consisted of a locomotive and four or five passenger cars . With about 1000 travelers it was completely overstaffed. He drove on the Djibouti – Addis Ababa railway , which crosses the river of the same name on a bridge near the city of Awash. In front of it was a curve and a level crossing .

the accident

At around 1:40 p.m., the train derailed on the level crossing - presumably because of excessive speed - but still hit the bridge. The locomotive and four passenger cars crashed.

consequences

At least 428 people died and 500 were injured. The number of victims varies depending on the source. There are also 392 dead and around 370 injured.

Web links

The Nordic Africa Institute: Local History in Ethiopia . (Website) - currently no longer available, cited here .

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 , p. 192.
^ Clifford D. May: Ethiopian train falls off bridge; 392 are killed . In: The New York Times , January 15, 1985 - but this is a "first report", the final figures are usually higher after such an event.

9.025559 40.184083Coordinates: 9 ° 1 '32 " N , 40 ° 11' 2.7" E

[Semmens-1] A ^b ^c Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 , p. 192.

[2] Clifford D. May: Ethiopian train falls off bridge; 392 are killed . In: The New York Times , January 15, 1985 - but this is a "first report", the final figures are usually higher after such an event.