Returning from a breakdown service at the Andekaleka power plant on Saturday, four Jirama technicians were crushed with their 4×4 by a train. Three died, one survived.
The Jirama and the Ministry of Energy and Hydrocarbons in mourning. Three technicians died in the collision of their 4×4 and a train, Saturday evening, in Andekaleka. Their colleague came out of the accident alive. He is being cared for at a local health center. Senior officials from the ministry and the company visited the site together with the Minister of Public Security, Fanomezantsoa Rodellys Randrianarison. On that day, a problem arose at the hydroelectric plant. All four went there to carry out a repair. They returned in 4×4 after the repair work. Around 6:30 p.m., as they crossed a level crossing, located at Salimoina Lohariandava, a train appeared in the dark. “They really wouldn’t have seen it coming because it was already very close when they cut,” explains a gendarme contacted by telephone. Finding itself perpendicular to the locomotive, the 4×4 was hit head-on and dragged with it. its occupants up to thirty to forty meters on the railway. The point of the shock was found on its rear part.
A pile of junk
The machine came to a stop after damaging the vehicle. This one was completely crumpled, being nothing more than a heap of scrap metal, impossible to identify. Only the one seated next to the driver escaped death. The others breathed their last while sandwiched on board. “They had their limbs broken. The driver even had his head cut off. the miraculous [ndlr: même si ses blessures sont jugées un peu trop graves], saw a light above him and tried to get out immediately, ”says the gendarme. He and the Moramanga station police were at the scene of the accident yesterday to draw up the findings. The investigation will be entrusted to the special commissioner’s office. The freight train was traveling from Toamasina towards Antananarivo, carrying tanks full of fuel. The families of the deceased have already been called to join Andekaleka. In the meantime, the Jirama team prepares the bodies.