No fewer than 17 people died and 70 others injured when a train and a lorry collided southwest of Tunis, the Tunisian capital.
According to the transport and interior ministries, most of those who died were passengers on the train, which derailed. The accident happened at El Fahes, about 60 kilometres from Tunis, at around 6:30am.
Officials said the train was heading to the capital from the town of Gaafour, 120 kilometres southwest of Tunis.
“The death toll could rise,” Transport Minister, Mahmoud Ben Romdhane, said even as eyewitnesses said that they saw mangled wreckage at the scene and dead bodies on the tracks.
“This is horrible; there is blood and bits of flesh everywhere. There are people still trapped under the carriage, which overturned.”
Those injured in the collision were taken to hospitals in El Fahes and Zaghouan, and the ministers of interior and health visited the scene of the accident.
Train crashes are common in Tunisia, which has a dilapidated rail network featuring many unprotected crossings.
In July, a train came off the tracks in the northwest, killing five people and injuring around 40. [myad]
