The Executive Director of Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM), in the southern region, said that a rail accident involving trains in the early hours of this morning caused 39 injuries, in the district of Moamba, Maputo province.

The 39 lightly injured, five of whom were children, were taken to the Moamba Health Center, 31 were discharged from hospital, four are still under observation there and another four were transferred to the Matola Provincial Hospital.

"CFM deeply regrets what happened and wishes a speedy and complete recovery to the passengers and crew affected," the company said in a statement quoted by Lusa.

The accident occurred at around 4.50 a.m. between two locomotives, a passenger train carrying 95 people and a freight train, on the Ressano Garcia line.

The cause of the accident is, preliminarily, a positioning fault on the crossing line. When the accident happened, the freight train was stationary waiting for the other locomotive, which was on its way from Ressano Garcia to Maputo, to cross.

The company said that a commission of inquiry had been set up to "ascertain the real causes of the collision" between the trains, noting that traffic was "running normally".