Train passenger breaks knee

Walvis Bay pensioner Susie van den Heever broke her knee and injured her back when she fell while disembarking from a train at Okahandja on Friday. She says the last step of the stairs was missing. TransNamib officials rushed her to the Katutura State Hospital where she was examined by a doctor and her leg was put in a cast. Van den Heever was travelling to Upington in South Africa. When TransNamib officials at the Okahandja station announced that the train would arrive in Windhoek late, she decided to disembark and take a taxi to Windhoek instead. “There was no platform where the train stopped in Okahandja. While climbing down I unexpectedly slipped. This happened because of a broken step on the staircase of the coach. I landed badly and could not get up,” she told Namibian Sun. She said TransNamib paid for her train ticket to return to Walvis Bay the same evening. “The pain is unbearable. I never noticed that the last step on the staircase was missing. Their (TransNamib’s) negligence resulted in my injury. I am a pensioner and need them to assist me to pay for my medical treatment,” she said. Esme Hoaes at the TransNamib Claims Department in Windhoek confirmed the incident yesterday. “We advised her to submit her doctor’s report and hospital passport in order for us to assess how we can help her. It’s the first time that something like this happened,” Hoaes said. Hoaes said TransNamib’s Claims Department handles about 20 claims from train passengers per year. She said derailment-related claims are the most common. To date, the company has registered eight derailment claims. Claims from people involved in train and vehicle collisions are also made. Namibian Sun’s effort to establish how much TransNamib has spent on claims so far this year were futile because the Claims Department administrator, Charles Beukes, could not be reached for comment. At the time of going to press Van den Heever was still waiting for a response to her request for assistance from the company. WALVIS BAY OTIS FINCK