Scores of Hutu Refugees Die on Train

KISANGANI, Zaire — More than 100 Hutu refugees suffocated or were crushed to death Sunday in a train carrying them from a refugee camp in Zaire to be airlifted home to Rwanda, a U.N. official said.

Aid workers and journalists saw dozens of bodies tumbling from open railroad cars as the train carrying them from Biaro, about 25 miles away, pulled into Kisangani station in northeastern Zaire.

The weak, children and dozens of desperately ill adults aboard had been forced to the bottom of the cars in the crush. As the train came to a stop, those packed inside still living leaped over the sides.

The head of the United Nations refugee agency’s office in Kisangani, Kilian Kleinschmidt, said he estimated that more than 100 people had died in the crush. Hundreds were injured, and more than 50 were in serious condition.

U.N. refugee agency officials had been told by Zairian rebel authorities who control the railroad to expect about 2,800 refugees. But it was clear that the six open-topped cars carried hundreds more.