"Up until now the toll is eight dead and several injured. The toll could be significantly higher," Jean-Marie Tshizainga, the minister of mines of Lualaba province told AFP.
The train, in which the victims were travelling illegally, was running between the country's second city Lubumbashi to Luena in the mineral-rich Katanga province.
The UN's radio Okapi however spoke of 33 deaths, as well as others being burned and wounded.
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