JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - The driver of a truck which crashed with a train in South Africa leaving at least 25 farm workers dead will be charged with murder, state media reported Saturday.
The driver will appear in court on Monday on 25 charges of murder for the accident near the town of Malelane, south of the famed Kruger National Park, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
A train transporting coal to Mozambique collided with the four-tonne truck at a level crossing Friday and dragged it down the tracks. Officials and local media had given the death toll as 26 on Friday.
President Jacob Zuma condemned the crash, attributed to the driver's negligence, and the way in which the farm workers had been forced to travel in a shipping container on the back of the truck.
"It is shocking that in this day and age people are transported in containers," he said on state television.
Railways and freight rail in South Africa are owned and operated by Transnet, the state-run transport and logistics company.
The firm said in a statement that the driver had failed to stop at the level crossing.
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