Addressing a small crowd of Tabora residents at the railway station here after inspecting the wreckage of the train engine and four third class cabins, Mr Lowassa ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Saidi Mwema, and the TRC Director-General, Mr Linford Mboma, to ensure the vandals are arrested and charged soon.

Earlier, the Tabora Regional Commissioner, Mr Abedi Mwinyimsa, told the premier that 52 accident victims had been treated for minor injuries and discharged. The 19 victims, who suffered serious injuries, would remain in at the Kitete Regional Hospital for further observation. There were no fatalities in the accident.

The RC said one of the victims, Michael Mwakatobe (21), is in critical condition and was expected to be flown to Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam yesterday for special treatment.

Michael had just finished Form Six at Tabora Boys' Secondary School and was heading home in Dar es Salaam.

Mr Mboma told the premier that the accident caused his corporation a loss of between 60m/- and 70m/-. He showed Mr Lowassa four mangled passenger cabins that were lying on their sides near the now repaired and working railway tracks. One of the cabins tumbled off a bridge where the vandals removed bolts from seven sleepers.

The vandals used a sisal rope to draw the loose tracks back into position in a manner that would deceive the train driver. One track rose two inches higher than the others in order to topple the engine and throw the cabins off the track. Mr Mboma said the driver saw the rope but it was too late to apply the brakes meaningfully.

See also:

TRC to go private any time now

Guardian: 2007-03-03 By Guardian Reporter, Tabora

The government said yesterday it will soon hand over the Tanzania Railway Corporation to a private investor.

The announcement comes only two days after a passenger train derailed near Tabora station, injuring 71 people.

Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, who was winding up a five-day tour of Morogoro Region, arrived here yesterday to console the crash victims and assess the damage due to the accident.

Speaking at the scene of the accident, he said the government had finalised all pre-privatisation procedures for the giant corporation.

The Prime Minister added that it was only a matter of time before it was handed over to India`s RITES Company, which has won the respective lease tender.

He said RITES has enormous experience in railway operations because it has been running railway networks in India and Mozambique for years.

"We already have rich experience with some of our privatised institutions or those that have been leased. We should be very careful with contracts attendant or leading up to the privatisation exercise in order to steer clear of problems similar to those we have experienced in the past," noted the Prime Minister.

"We shall lease TRC to the Indian firm for 25 years but we must be careful and satisfy ourselves fully that everything is in order," he added

Speaking about Wednesday's accident, a visibly saddened Lowassa said it threw him into deep grief and sorrow. He hinted that the sad incident was the result of sabotage by elements driven by evil intentions.

"This matter must have been done by people who know TRC's network and operations inside out. Whether they are right inside the corporation or outside it, they must be people who know how to handle or fiddle with the corporation`s facilities and can tighten or loosen bolts," he observed further.

The Prime Minister said planning to kill or injure innocent people was criminal and unacceptable "even if it was the work of disgruntled elements with grudges against the corporation's management".

"What do poor passengers, some of them foreigners and minors, have to do with misunderstandings between the workers and the TRC management?" he asked. Some of the people hurt in the crash were secondary school students and Burundi nationals.

Lowassa ordered Inspector General of Police Said Mwema and the TRC management to track down all those believed or suspected to be behind that incident.

"Police and TRC must work day and night to ensure those vicious people are arrested and brought to justice," he said, adding that the government would not tolerate criminal incidents that unnecessarily cost the nation heavily in human deaths and injuries as well as huge amounts of money in destruction of property.

The Prime Minister ordered TRC Director General Linford Mboma to make a follow-up of TRC employees who could be behind the sabotage.

Nineteen of the people injured in the accident are admitted to the Tabora regional hospital, Kitete.

They include Michael Mwakatobe, who is a condition and is expected to be moved to Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.

Among the others are Jumanne Fundi, Sudi Juma, Hassan Mohammed, Mohamed Mazinge, Samson Masanja, Nindwa Mnandi, Zawadi Isack of Burundi and Faines Peter.

The others are Kizala Kintu, Neema Yassin, Neema Fanuel, Justa Venance, Victoria Kingozi, Hadija Marwa, Magreth Julius, Magreth Kidana, Veronica Samson and Hamida Ramadhani.

See also:

9 arrested over train accident

Guardian: 2007-03-05
By Lucas Raphael, PST, Tabora

Police in Tabora Region have arrested nine people, including six locomotive drivers, in connection with the sabotaging of a section of the central railway line.

Last week, a passenger train was derailed six kilometers from Tabora Railway Station. The accident led to the injuring of at least 71 people, 15 of them seriously.

A police source, who preferred anonymity, told PST yesterday that the arrested drivers were those under suspension after they were previously suspected of stealing oil from locomotive engines.

Three others, the source hinted, were nabbed near the scene of incident, being two men and a woman.

Due to security reasons, no more details, including names of those arrested, have been released so far.

Unknown people unscrewed bolts from a railway section of the central line at Cheyo area in Tabora Town.

Meanwhile, police in collaboration with Tanzania Peoples Defense Forces (TPDF) soldiers were questioning senior officials of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) in connection with the train accident. The questioning took place yesterday.

Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, who visited the scene of accident last Friday, ordered the law enforcing organs to leave no stone unturned until the culprits were nabbed.

Reliable information reaching PST indicated that the TRC officers were questioned for at least three hours each in the office of the Tabora Regional Police Commander, Muhud Mshihiri.

The information also revealed that others were questioned for up to 15 hours.

The accident, estimated to have caused a 70m/- loss, forced the Premier to cut short his official tour of Morogoro Region so that he could rush to the scene of accident.