Two people were killed and dozens others injured when a Borneo Railway slipped off track due to landslip and plunged into the Padas River in Tenom in the interior of Sabah.
Here’s a report by The Star newspaper on the incident:
Two Killed In Train Plunge
The Star
KOTA KINABALU: A normally-serene journey in interior Sabah turned into a nightmare for 41 people when a train plunged into the fast-flowing Padas River, killing two passengers.
Four others on board the two-carriage train were injured as passengers scrambled up a steep slope in the tragedy that occurred after a landslip in Kampung Pangi near Tenom, about 170km from here.
Police have identified the two dead as a local woman from Kg Melalap in Tenom and a Timorese man.
Tenom OCPD Deputy Supt Mazlan Lazim said both were believed to have drowned while trying to swim out of the train.
He said they still needed verification from relatives as identity documents were found separately. The identities of the four injured have been determined.
“One moment we were enjoying the river scenery, the next minute our carriage plunged,” said housewife Bunga Gumba, 55, who was on board the train heading from Tenom to Beaufort at about 3.15pm.
Fellow passenger Anggang Buntong, 35, said the passengers were screaming as the carriage slid down the 10m slope. They jumped out from windows and doors when it came to a halt just above the water’s edge.
Another passenger, Masanah Saravah, 20, said she saw people scrambling out as the first carriage was tipped into the river.
One of the two locomotive drivers and three passengers were seriously injured and are now warded at the Tenom hospital while 28 other passengers were treated for slight injuries.
According to DSP Mazlan, the landslip caused the disaster.
“As the train was passing the stretch, we believe soil and boulders pushed the train off the tracks and down the slope into the river,” he added.
DSP Mazlan said the engine and the first carriage ended up in the water while the second carriage landed along the steep bank.
“We accounted for all 41 paying passengers and have no report of other missing people,” he said, dismissing claims that as many as 30 others could have been “hitchhiking” on the train.
Sabah Railway Department director James Wong said there were 41 paying passengers on board.
In an immediate statement, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman ordered a thorough investigation.
“I want a full probe,” he said, in extending his condolences to the families of victims and promising to provide whatever assistance possible.
He also ordered the state Infrastructure Development Ministry to check the tracks of the entire route before Sabah Railways resumes service.
The only railway service in Borneo is in Sabah between Tanjung Aru in Kota Kinabalu and the indigenous Murut heartland of Tenom.
Coming soon: My first train ride on Borneo Railway.
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