Nampula, Mozambique — At lease eight people died and 22 others injured early Friday after two trains collided head-on in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula.

The crash involved two cargo trains at Nacavala station in Meconta district, 50 km east of the provincial capital of Nampula city.

According to witnesses, the two trains, one of which was stationary, crashed head-on. The still locomotive derailed after the impact, they said.

Apparently the victims were hanging on to the wagons, and it is thought that they were killed by falling containers during the crash. It is a common practice for people to clamber on to goods wagons in order to take a free train journey.

Sources at the northern branch of the country's ports and railway company (CFM-Norte) said that the accident was due to the negligence of one of its workers who did not give proper signals to one train on the down line, heading to Nacala port from Nampula.

The company said that, apart from the dead and injured, there was heavy damage to equipment, particularly the stationary locomotive.

The two locomotives belonged to Central East African Railways (formerly Malawi Railways) and had been leased out to CFM-Norte.