A passenger train has crashed in central Tanzania, killing at least 200 people and injuring hundreds more when it hurtled backwards down the track and slammed into a freight train, officials say.
Survivors described scenes of horror with passengers leaping from the speeding train in a desperate attempt to save their lives, and the driver running through packed carriages screaming that the train, with 1,000 people aboard, was out of control.
Hospital officials said the death toll was at least 200. A number of corpses were still trapped under the wreckage.
The passenger train was climbing a hill when it suffered a mechanical failure and rolled backwards towards an approaching freight train, said a spokesman for the Tanzanian Railway Corporation.
A total of 229 people have been admitted to the Mpwapwa hospital, and 60 others at the Dodoma regional hospital.
Tanzanian President Mr Benjamin Mkapa visited Dodoma hospital to comfort the injured.
Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye visited the crash scene and later announced two days of official mourning, when flags would fly at half mast.