Blackheath train accident

Blackheath train accident

Date	25 August 2010
Time	07:03
Location	Blackheath, Blue Downs, Western Cape ESE from Cape Town
Coordinates
Country	South Africa
Rail line	Bellville–Stellenbosch
Operator	Metrorail
Type of incident	Level crossing accident
Statistics
Trains	1
Deaths	10
Injuries	5

The Blackheath train accident occurred at 7:03 a.m. on 25 August 2010 when a Metrorail commuter train crashed into a minibus taxi on the Buttskop Road level crossing in Blackheath, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The minibus was carrying fourteen children to school; nine died on the scene and five were hospitalized. One of the injured children died two days later in the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital. The minibus driver was also hospitalized; there were no injuries aboard the train.

An initial investigation by the Railway Safety Regulator determined that the lights and booms at the crossing were in full working order. Witnesses stated that the minibus drove around a queue of stopped cars and past the closed half-booms blocking the crossing. The driver, Jacob Humphreys, was arrested upon being released from hospital and charged with ten counts of culpable homicide; he was initially held in custody but was later released on bail. On 12 December 2011 he was convicted in the Western Cape High Court on ten counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder and on 28 February 2012 he was sentenced to an effective twenty years in prison. On 22 March 2013 the Supreme Court of Appeal reduced the conviction to culpable homicide and the sentence to an effective eight years' imprisonment.