Driver injured in attack on coal train on Sena line, central Mozambique

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Driver injured in attack on coal train on Sena line, central Mozambique

4:07 CAT | 04 Mar 2021

Photo: O País

One person was injured in an armed attack on a train on the main railway line in central Mozambique, an official source told Lusa.

The attack took place at around 06:10 a.m. on the section of the Sena line between Mazamba and Cundue, in Sofala province. The target was a train run by the Indian consortium ICVL, which operates four coal concessions in Tete province, Ports and Railways of Mozambique (CFM) spokesman Adélio Dias said.

“The driver was hit with a bullet in the shoulder, but fortunately survived, and is now being assisted at a local hospital,” Dias reported, adding that the victim was unable to say who fired the shots.

The rail director of the central division of the publicly owned port and railway company (CFM-Centro), Boaventura Mahave, said, quoted by ‘O País’ that the attackers fired several shots at the convoy, while “the driver was unable to see the attackers,” so much so that, when the first shots started, he even thought it was a derailment”.

“We will let the competent authorities investigate this attack. Despite the attack, we guarantee that the trains run normally on the Seine line, ” said Mahave.

Connecting the Port of Beira, via Dondo, to Malawi, the 357-kilometre Sena line is considered the “backbone” of the central region, along which coal extracted by multinationals in Tete is transported.

On Tuesday, the company announced that four of its employees had disappeared after the failure of the ‘dresina’ (light rail vehicle) on which they were transiting the Floresta-Lunza section, also in Sofala province.

The CFM spokesman Adélio Dias told Lusa that it was premature to link the two incidents, adding that authorities were still searching for the missing employees.

Also read: Mozambique: Four rail workers go missing on Sena line – Noticias report

The centre of Mozambique has for just over a year been the scene of armed attacks attributed to a Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) splinter group.

The self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, led by Mariano Nhongo, a former guerrilla leader, is accused of carrying out armed attacks against civilians and government forces on roads and villages in the provinces of Sofala and Manica, central Mozambique, incursions which have already caused the death of at least 30 people since August last year.

Source: Lusa / O País