Thousands of mourners have turned out to pay their respects to victims of a South African train crash that killed 24 people in KwaZulu-Natal province.

Mourners began gathering early Saturday at a community center in Groutville, a town north of Durban, near where the train accident occurred. At least three national government ministers as well as provincial and local officials were among those gathered to pay tribute to the victims, many of whom were children. South African officials have promised a thorough investigation into the accident in which a passenger train collided with a stopped freight train February 5. About 120 people were injured in the crash.

Local rail officials say that two meters of copper electric cables had been cut away and stolen an hour before the accident, forcing the commuter train network Metrorail to fall back on manual signaling.

Some information for this report provided by AFP.

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