A derailed train has plunged into a ravine in the Congo, killing at least 60 people.
The crash happened last night after the train left the coastal town of Pointe-Noire on the Chemin de Fer Congo Ocean (CFCO) line to the capital Brazzaville, a line which has seen at least two serious accidents in recent years. Four of the wagons careered into the ravine.
"Unfortunately the train took a corner that turned out to be fatal," said a rail company source.
At least 50 people were killed on the same line in 2001, many of them burned to death, when two trains collided at Mvougounti about 75 km (45 miles) east of Pointe-Noire.
Eight years earlier, about 100 people died when a passenger train slammed into a freight train, also at Mvougounti.
The lack of roads and the dysfunctional railway system between the main towns make travel difficult and contribute to the high cost of food and imported goods in the capital and throughout neighbouring land-locked nations.
Chinese engineers started work late last year on a $500 million road linking the oil hub of Pointe-Noire with Brazzaville, a project that will involve crossing equatorial forests and steep mountains.
Congo, which borders the much larger Democratic Republic of Congo, exports millions of barrels of oil a year. However, it remains mostly poor and suffers from poor infrastructure. The government is seeking to diversify its economy as oil reserves wind down.
Reuters