Scores trapped after Kenya train derailment

A cargo train derailment in the crowded Nairobi slum of Kibera, trapping dozens of people in their makeshift homes, the Kenyan Red Cross said.

Transport Minister Michael Kamau, who was at the scene, told journalists that six people had been hospitalised so far while the government's disaster operations office said that all people had been rescued.

However, rescue officials have said that the train wagons have to be lifted, as it is not clear whether people remained underneath the wreckage

"The rescue efforts are under way, we cannot talk of the number of those injured at the moment," Nairobi Police chief Benson Kibue said.

The train was carrying wheat to Uganda.

The derailment is thought to be due to the train's heavy LOAD.

Kibera is one of Africa's largest slums and is home to an estimated quarter of a million people, according to an NGO that carried out a survey there.

But locals have suggested that casualties might be lower than initially thought due to people having gone to church or returned to their villages for the Christmas holidays. 

"The initial report is that people are feared trapped, but so far we have not received reports of any actual missing persons," a Red Cross emergency officer at the scene said.