Mozambique started three-days of official mourning today for victims of a devastating train crash as the death toll looked set to rise beyond 205, Health Ministry officials said.
Flags flew at half mast and state radio and television played solemn music and funeral dirges.
The crash happened yesterday when the train lost power on a steep hill. Engineers separated cargo from passengers wagons, leaving passenger wagon held back by stones on the hill, the Mozambique cabinet said.
But under the weight, the passenger wagons broke free and hurtled along the line, crashing into the cargo of mainly cement and derailing at Tenga, a village about 40km (25 miles) from the Mozambican capital Maputo.
Hospital authorities said medics worked through the night to treat the many wounded, including 22 in intensive care and 169 more in a high dependency unit, where patients are in a critical condition but out of immediate danger.
More than 250 other people injured in the crash were treated at the hospital or other clinics in Maputo and later discharged.
Staff from the Transport Ministry, fire department and ports and Railway Ministry worked to clear debris from the scene of the accident.
Government ministers returned to the scene early on Sunday to see for themselves the mangled wreckage of the three wagons that bore the brunt of the accident.