Fourteen dead after Sudan goods train derails

A goods train derailed in Sudan's West Kordofan state killing 14 people and injuring 28 others, the railways authority said on Monday.

The reason for the accident a day earlier was unclear. Senior officials from the authority were travelling to the remote area to begin investigations.

A statement said the train was carrying students from the university of West Kordofan who were among the victims but did not specify why they were on the goods train.

A number of the train's cars derailed and flipped over, local newspapers said on Monday.

Sudan's trains are old and need spare parts prohibited by US sanctions imposed on Africa's largest nation. Washington has accused Sudan of sponsoring terror.

China is upgrading one part of the network, from Port Sudan to the capital Khartoum.

At the height of Sudan's five-year-old conflict in its western Darfur region, thousands of Darfuris travelled in goods trains to Khartoum seeking refuge from rape, pillage and murder.

In Sudan's south, land mines and fighting after decades of civil war has undermined the rail network.

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