Fuel recovery from derailed train in progress-Cear

The Central East African Railways (Cear) says it is working on recovering the remaining diesel from train wagons that derailed yesterday at Makata Industrial site in Blantyre and renovating the railway line so that trains resume running on it.

The six wagons were carrying 240 000 litres of diesel belonging to Petroleum Importers Limited (PIL).

The locomotive which was coming from Blantyre going to Limbe got disconnected while running, at Midima Dam Bridge. No one was injured in the accident.

Speaking in an interview today, Cear Communications and Corporate Image Manager Chisomo Mwamadi said the recovered fuel is being taken by road tankers for safe keeping.

“Our main focus now is to work hard to recover the railway line so that we continue running trains while at the same time making sure that the accident site is safe.

The police have been on-site to make sure nobody comes close especially the community,” said Mwamadi.

He added that a team of environmentalists from Blantyre City Council is also there to ensure there is no further damage to the environment by getting rid of contaminated diesel and covering the spillage with sand.

PIL general manager Enwell Kadango said so far the recovery is progressing well and hopefully all work will be done in three days.

Kadango said they are not yet done with calculations to establish how much has been lost in the accident.