More than 30 people were on Friday killed when a goods train ploughed into a truck carrying farm workers on a level crossing in South Africa, an official said.
The victims were “torn into pieces” in the accident that saw the mangled truck shunted up to two kilometres down the line, said Thulani Sibuyi, head of eastern Mpumalanga province's community safety department.
“What we know at this stage is that more than 30 people appear to have died at the point of impact,” he said.
Parademics were still at the scene near Malelane, east of the provincial capital Nelspruit.
“It would appear as if the truck driver may have crossed the railway line without having a proper look-out and as a result the train hit him and then pulled him for about a kilometre to two kilometres,” said Mr Sibuyi.
“The bodies are lying all over the scene. People torn apart and so forth.”
The exact number of dead and injured who had been taken to hospital still needed to be confirmed, he said.
The truck was transporting about 50 people, believed to be farm labourers, he said.
“You can smell blood. There are bodies everywhere. It's a very gruesome sight,” a woman at the scene told local radio.
The driver of the truck survived the crash and some of the critically injured were airlifted to hospital.
Police said they were investigating and considering laying a charge of culpable homicide.
Accidents at level crossings are common in South Africa as drivers often ignore safety signs.
This year a court handed a 20-year prison term to a Cape Town minibus taxi driver who crashed into an oncoming train, killing 10 school children.