A South African train carrying foreign tourists on a luxury safari derailed outside the capital Pretoria yesterday, killing two workers, including a pregnant woman, officials said.

Fifty-five passengers and 30 staff were on the train heading from Cape Town to Pretoria when 16 carriages slid down the tracks in a deadly pile-up, Rovos Rail owner Rohan Vos told reporters at the scene of the accident.

Emergency workers had to cut holes into the roofs of the vintage wood-panelled carriages tossed onto their sides.

Two South African women working in the train were killed. One of the women was pregnant and gave birth after the crash, but the foetus did not survive, said Chris Botha, spokesman for emergency medical services operator Netcare 911.

Five people were critically injured and nine others seriously hurt in the accident that happened 50 days before the start of the football World Cup. Thirty-five people sustained minor injuries, Mr Botha said.

Mr Vos said the foreign travellers on board included 44 Americans, four Britons, four French and three Germans.

"It's absolute carnage," Mr Botha said from the scene of the accident.

"Some of the railway coaches are lying on top of each other and absolute wreckages. They had to use hydraulic rescue equipment to cut some of the people free."

Trained dogs swept the wreckage for signs of survivors. Safety inspectors said the accident appeared to have happened as the train was changing from an electrical locomotive to Rovos Rail's emblematic steam engine.

"The rest of the train went into motion and ran away before the steam locomotive could be coupled, resulting in a derailment outside the Blue Train depot in Pretoria," the Railway Safety Regulator said.

The Blue Train is another famed luxury liner that runs between Pretoria and Cape Town. The two companies share some of the same stations, but Rovos Rail specialises in operating restored antique trains.

Rovos describes itself as "the most luxurious train in the world", and offers a 56,000-dollar journey along the length of the continent, from Cape Town to Cairo.

Rovos Rail said the accident was the first involving injuries in the company's history.

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