Blackheath train accident

33°58′13″S 18°42′21″E / 33.9702°S 18.7059°E / -33.9702; 18.7059CountrySouth AfricaLineBellville–StellenboschOperatorMetrorailIncident typeLevel crossing accidentStatisticsTrains1Deaths9Injured5

The Blackheath train accident occurred at 7:03 a.m. on 25 August 2010 when a Metrorail commuter train crashed into a minibus taxi on the Buttskop Road level crossing in Blackheath, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa.^[1] The minibus was carrying fourteen children to school; nine died on the scene and five were hospitalised.^[2] One of the injured children died two days later in the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital.^[3] The minibus driver was also hospitalised;^[2] there were no injuries aboard the train.^[4]

An initial investigation by the Railway Safety Regulator determined that the lights and booms at the crossing were in full working order.^[4] Witnesses stated that the minibus drove around a queue of stopped cars and past the closed half-booms blocking the crossing.^[5][6] The driver, Jacob Humphreys, was arrested upon being released from hospital and charged with ten counts of culpable homicide; he was initially held in custody^[7] but was later released on bail.^[8] On 12 December 2011 he was convicted in the Western Cape High Court on ten counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder^[9] and on 28 February 2012 he was sentenced to an effective twenty years in prison.^[10] On 22 March 2013 the Supreme Court of Appeal reduced the conviction to culpable homicide and the sentence to an effective eight years' imprisonment.^[11]

See also

• 2010 in rail transport
• 2010 in South Africa
• Rail transport in South Africa
• List of level crossing accidents
• List of rail accidents (2010-present)
• Gilchrest Road, New York crossing accident, 1972 accident involving U.S. school bus driver who also tried to beat a train at a crossing, killing five students

References