DODOMA (Tanzania), June 24: At least 200 people were killed and hundreds injured on Monday when a passenger train and a cargo train collided in central Tanzania, witnesses said.

Rail officials in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, said at least 48 bodies had been recovered.

A senior railway official said the train was climbing a steep hill when it experienced mechanical problems and rolled backwards on the tracks towards an approaching cargo train.

“The train went off the railway tracks backwards and smashed into another train behind it going in the same direction. It had 22 cabins and

21 of them fell off the rail tracks,” he said, adding that the train was carrying about 1,000 passengers.

“We are not sure of the exact number of those dead. It is very difficult to get figures from the scene.”

One survivor, 32-year-old John Maganga, said the train which was travelling from Dar es Salaam to the northwestern town of Kigoma, was moving very fast as it rolled backwards.

“When the train rolled backwards, it gained momentum and was moving at a very high speed,” he said, his head bleeding.

“The driver left the engine and ran into the cabins telling people to close the windows and shouting that the train was out of control.”

Maganga and several other survivors were taken by train to Dodoma railway station, about 100kms from the crash scene. They were later taken to hospital.

Rescue workers and relatives of passengers waited on the station platforms for the injured to arrive.

“A plane carrying doctors has left Dar es Salaam for Dodoma to help in treating the injured,” Anna Abdallah, the minister for health, said.

MOURNING: Tanzania’s Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye announced two days of national mourning following the train accident.