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Police spokesman Joseph Mabusa said it appeared the truck driver had miscalculated when crossing the track, leaving his vehicle directly in the path of a freight train carrying coal to neighbouring Mozambique.
“It is a very gruesome scene. Some bodies are without heads and some without limbs. Forensic teams are still working on the scene,” he said.
The impact carried the truck 200 metres down the track, dismembering its occupants and making it hard for forensic experts to say exactly how many people had been killed, he added.
“The driver was taken to hospital. His condition is unknown,” Mabusa said.
At least 24 others were injured, some of them critically, in the accident near the town of Hectorspruit, about 400 km east of Johannesburg.
State rail operator Transnet said the train was carrying coal for export to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, but that there was no derailment.
“The truck was carrying 44 passengers . . . and the police on the scene have confirmed that 19 people were fatally injured,” it said.
Paramedics found the injured lying among the dead after the truck had been chopped in two by the impact, said emergency services spokesman Jeffrey Wicks.
Local media showed pictures of helicopters landing on the road — the main highway linking Johannesburg to Mozambique — in order to airlift the injured to hospital.
South Africa’s government has announced plans to spend billions of dollars on revamping the creaking rail network in the continent’s biggest economy. But human error is often to blame for the sporadic accidents that do occur.
Meanwhile, police are investigating the gruesome train crash scene and are considering laying a charge of culpable homicide, AFP yesterday.
The driver of the truck survived the crash and some of the critically injured were airlifted to hospital. “You can smell blood. There are bodies everywhere. It’s a very gruesome sight,” a woman at the scene told local radio.
The government conveyed its condolences to the relatives of those killed in the crash.
“Government is deeply saddened by this incident. One death is one too many. Our prayers and thoughts are with families of the farm-workers,” spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said.
Cabinet members commended emergency services for their quick response. — Sapa.
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