Inquest highlights train driver's mistakes

CONTINUING to give evidence at the reopened inquest into the death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Inkosi Albert Luthuli at the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday, steam train expert Lesley Labuschagne said it was cast-in-stone rules that when approaching a railway line bridge, a tunnel and a pedestrian or vehicle crossing, the driver should blow the hooter and slow down the train as precautionary measures.

- BONGANI HANS

“Had the driver blown the whistle before entering the bridge, in this particular case, Chief Albert Luthuli or any other pedestrian would have known that there was a train coming,” said Labuschagne.

“The steam locomotive whistle is extremely loud,” said Labuschagne.

It was suspected that Luthuli was killed by the apartheid operatives, and the train accident was used as a cover-up.

The transcript of the 1967 inquest, read: “Perhaps the reason why Chief Luthuli did not hear the whistle blow is because there was a strong wind blowing towards the west direction (to the opposite direction of Luthuli).”

Labuschagne dismissed the statement because “there is a steam locomotive operating on the coast in Mossel Bay and Cape Town, and when the offshore wind blows, no matter how strong it is, you can still hear the whistle.”