MORE than 100 Hutu refugees from Rwanda suffocated or were crushed to death yesterday in a train carrying them from a refugee camp in Zaire to be airlifted back to their country, UN officials said.
"I think this is one of the most horrifying events I have ever seen in all my years as an aid worker," said Mr Kilian Kleinschmidt, head of the Kisangani office of the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Aid workers and journalists saw dozens of bodies tumbling from six - open wagons as the train pulled into Kisangani station in north eastern Zaire.
Those packed inside the wagons and still living leapt over the sides as the train came to a stop after a two hour journey from Biaro camp 41 km away.
Hundreds were reported injured, more than 50 of them in serious condition.
Mr Kleinschmidt called on the Zairean rebel authorities who control the area and run the railways to hand over full control of the process of repatriating Rwandan refugees.
"There has been too much death already," he said. "Whoever is responsible for this has to let us do our job... Whoever is involved in this has to improve."
The rebel authorities had told UNHCR officials to expect around 2,800 refugees. But it was clear that the six open topped carriages carried hundreds more.
Survivors said thousands of refugees had swarmed onto the train as it pulled out of a station near Biaro. In the crush that followed, the weak, children and dozens of desperately ill adults were forced to the bottom of the carriages.
Those watching the arrival were unaware that under thousands of upright refugees lay the bodies of dozens who died during the journey.
Three photographers who travelled in the engine compartment had no idea the tragedy had taken place. "Only when he got off could we see what happened," said Stephen Ferry, an American photographer aboard the train. "At the beginning of the journey we could see some people shouting for us to stop. We told the driver but he said `no problem'."
At Kisangani station, aid workers tried to help pull those still alive from the jumble of limbs and bodies at the bottom of the wagons.
Promises of cooperation to aid officials from the rebel leader, Mr Laurent Kabila, had been made.
Bairo and nearby Kasese camp have had up to 80,000 Rwandan refugees but some are still in the forests where they fled after the attack on the camp. Thousands are now drifting back.
Over 60 refugees died overnight at Biaro, officials said, and hundreds more will die in the next few days unless medical facilities are swiftly improved.
A further 1,132 refugees earlier flew to Rwanda's capital Kigali yesterday bringing the total since the airlift began on Tuesday to 5,035.