At least five people were confirmed dead and eight others were injured in a train collision when a Victoria Falls-bound passenger train collided with a goods train at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe on Sunday, sources told Xinhua on Monday.

The sources with the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) said three people were confirmed to be dead on the spot, and two others died in the hospital on Monday.

An NRZ official who was on the scene said on Sunday that burnt limbs could be seen in the mangled coaches suggesting more people died. Rescuers could not pull out the limbs from the coaches because of heat from the fire.

The official said the Spoornet goods train, which was carrying copper sulphate and fuel tanks, left the Victoria Falls station after the NRZ officials had confirmed that the passenger train had been alerted to wait at the Dibamombe junction until the Spoornet train had passed.

The officer commanding police in Matabeleland North Bothwell Mugariri said one of the train drivers did not stop at the junction as was the procedure.

"The passenger train, which was on its way to Victoria Falls, had been notified about the Spoornet train and was told to wait for clearance before it could proceed. It is alleged that the NRZ engineman just stopped for a few minutes then decided to proceed on the notion that he would beat the goods train," he said.

Mugariri could not confirm the number of causalities saying he could only confirm three deaths, a woman and two men. The two men were the engine drivers.

Four critically injured passengers were airlifted to United Bulawayo Hospitals. Three of them were taken by an Airforce of Zimbabwe helicopter from Thornhill Airbase.

Mugariri said the total number of causalities could not be ascertained as the rescue team was trying to rescue passengers who had been trapped in some coaches. "The fire brigade and NRZ rescue team are working flat out to rescue the people trapped. The remains of the burnt passengers cannot be retrieved anytime on Monday as the coaches are still scorching hot."

It also took some rescue teams and doctors some time to get to the scene as they had to walk three kilometres to the scene of the accident because there is no road to link vehicles to the scene of the accident which occurred on a narrow hilly terrain, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2006)