EGYPT: A train crash killed 58 people and injured scores more in a Nile Delta town north of Cairo yesterday in Egypt's worst rail disaster in four years.
An investigation was under way after a train driver apparently ignored a signal and one commuter train ploughed into the rear of another early yesterday, state news agency Mena said.
Egyptian media reported that the head of the state railway authority, Hanafi Abdel-Qawi, was fired over the crash and his deputy suspended pending the results of the investigation. Mr Abdel-Qawi had earlier blamed "human error" for the crash, Mena reported.
"The first train was stopped. We looked and saw the other train coming from behind, screeching," said Khalil Sheikh Khalil, who had left a minibus nearby moments before the crash.
"We kept saying: 'Driver, driver, a train is coming.' So the [ train] driver moved up 15 metres, and while he was moving, the two trains impacted," he said, adding that the train's engine burst into flames on impact.
Egypt's health minister put the death toll at 58 and 143 injured, some critically. A security source had said up to 80 had died, but lowered his estimate to match the official tally.
A Reuters photographer at the scene said one of the trains had derailed and was lying on its side. It had split into four parts and appeared to have burned.
The crash ripped seats from train carriages, which were littered with clothes and shoes. The carriages had been crushed together like an accordion.
"A loud crash awoke me. One of the trains had derailed and people were scattered on the floor. I called the authorities and they told me I was crazy," said Osama Abdul Haleem, who lives near the crash site.
Two dozen ambulances were used to evacuate the casualties. Blood was spattered across the wreckage of both trains, and rescuers had to use a bulldozer to pull apart a metal side panel to reach a body lodged in one of the carriages.
Hundreds of bystanders and passengers' relatives anxious for news converged on the wreckage in a semi-rural area about 20km (12 miles) north of Cairo, on the outskirts of Qalyoub.
Officials used loudhailers to ask for donations of blood, and a queue formed in response.
Health minister Hatem el-Gabali said the government would pay 5,000 Egyptian pounds (€675) to families of the dead and 1,000 pounds for the injured. It would also cover funeral costs.
Prime minister Ahmed Nazif demanded that the transport minister put together a team to conduct an investigation and deliver answers on the causes of the crash within 48 hours. He said anyone found negligent would be held to account.
An opposition politician at the scene said government lenience over a string of previous transport accidents meant there was no motivation to maintain safety standards.
Crowds also berated a local government official at the scene, chanting "negligence" and scuffling with police who tried to disperse them. More than 1,000 people died in February when a ferry sank in the Red Sea.
Yesterday's crash was the deadliest railway accident in Egypt since 360 people were killed in 2002 when fire ripped through seven carriages of a crowded passenger train.
A train travelling between Spain and France with 426 passengers derailed in the northwest Spanish region of Palencia yesterday, killing six people and injuring 36, officials said.
It was too early to say what caused the crash, they said, but saw no initial sign of terrorism.
Witnesses said the train's six carriages came off the tracks while going around a bend near Villada station, about 30km (19 miles) northwest of the regional capital, Palencia. One carriage hit a bridge pillar, officials said. "The carriage started to move from right to left, all the windows broke and bags were flying everywhere until it finally stopped. There was a lot of smoke. I thought there had been a fire," a passenger said.
- (Reuters)