TransNamib rail depot catches fire

A TRANSNAMIB security guard sustained slight burns to his head yesterday when an abandoned office at the company’s train workshop in Windhoek caught fire.

The fire happened at around lunchtime in a disused container depot. No one else was injured.According to various witnesses and an unofficial company source, the security guard, Menas Kalola, apparently went into the abandoned office to look for personal belongings that he had stored there earlier.He lit a match to see in the dark, he told the Fire Brigade.The match did not go out as intended when he dropped it, he said, and soon he found himself surrounded by flames.Kalola ran out of the office, witnesses said, but not before sustaining slight burns to the back of his head.He had also inhaled smoke, for which he was treated by emergency workers.Firefighters arrived at the scene within minutes and put out the fire.A TransNamib official, who asked not to be named, attributed much of the damage to the abandoned depot to workers who allegedly stored stolen planks there.”Whenever one of our wooden palettes (used to transport heavy goods with a forklift) break, these guys come and store it here.Then when there’s no security, or when it’s quiet like on Sundays, they take the planks home,” he claimed.”Just last week we had a meeting about this, but it’s still going on,” he said.”I don’t know why Trans­Namib has had such bad luck lately,” the official remarked, referring to a number of accidents over the past few months.In August, a freight train derailed between Windhoek and Rehoboth, causing the death of the driver and serious injuries to his assistant.Then, just last Wednesday, two men were crushed to death by another freight train just as it left the station in Windhoek.It is suspected that the two were sleeping on the railway line.The results of internal investigations into both incidents are still pending, TransNamib spokesperson Ritha Nghiitwikwa told The Namibian yesterday morning.No one else was injured.According to various witnesses and an unofficial company source, the security guard, Menas Kalola, apparently went into the abandoned office to look for personal belongings that he had stored there earlier.He lit a match to see in the dark, he told the Fire Brigade.The match did not go out as intended when he dropped it, he said, and soon he found himself surrounded by flames.Kalola ran out of the office, witnesses said, but not before sustaining slight burns to the back of his head.He had also inhaled smoke, for which he was treated by emergency workers.Firefighters arrived at the scene within minutes and put out the fire.A TransNamib official, who asked not to be named, attributed much of the damage to the abandoned depot to workers who allegedly stored stolen planks there.”Whenever one of our wooden palettes (used to transport heavy goods with a forklift) break, these guys come and store it here.Then when there’s no security, or when it’s quiet like on Sundays, they take the planks home,” he claimed.”Just last week we had a meeting about this, but it’s still going on,” he said. “I don’t know why Trans­Namib has had such bad luck lately,” the official remarked, referring to a number of accidents over the past few months.In August, a freight train derailed between Windhoek and Rehoboth, causing the death of the driver and serious injuries to his assistant.Then, just last Wednesday, two men were crushed to death by another freight train just as it left the station in Windhoek.It is suspected that the two were sleeping on the railway line.The results of internal investigations into both incidents are still pending, TransNamib spokesperson Ritha Nghiitwikwa told The Namibian yesterday morning.