At least 2 dead and 16 injured after train crash in Egypt

A train accident on the left at least two dead and 16 injured this Tuesday at Caliubia station, north of Cairo, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Authorities said the injured are in stable condition.

The event occurred in Caliubia, in the Nile Delta.

The National Authority of Egyptian Railways has stated that the accident occurred when a passenger train entering that city’s station skipped a stop signal. “This caused the derailment of the locomotive and the first car,” the authority said in a statement.

Footage from the scene showed first responders converging on cars that still appeared to be upside down behind a high wall in a built-up area.

Later a crane was used raise a derailed car It seemed partially destroyed.

Egypt’s rail accidents have been blamed primarily on poor infrastructure and maintenance.

In April 2021, the Minister of Transport, Kamel al-Wazirsacked the director of the railway authority after the stir caused in the most populous country in the Arab world by the mismanagement of the train lines in poor condition.

The dismissal came two days after an accident that killed 23 people.

The dismissal of Ashraf Raslan He is part of a restructuring of 10 senior railway officials.

“The aim of these decisions is not simply to change the direction of the authority, but they are part of the next stage, which calls for a complete modernization of the rail network,” the Ministry of Transport said at the time.

The ongoing changes “are aimed at providing better services, working around the clock to serve travelers and modernizing this essential service which carries millions of passengers a year,” the ministry said in a statement.

In March 2021, at least 20 people died and nearly 200 were injured in a train crash in the south of the country.according to an official report that the authorities have reviewed on several occasions.

The prosecution later alleged that the driver of the fast-moving Egyptian train and his assistant left the driver’s cab when it collided with another train, which was stopped.

The attendant on the second train had used cannabis and was under the influence of the painkiller tramadol, as was a person in charge of signaling the track, the prosecutor also alleged.

Wazir, a former general, was appointed transport minister after a 2019 train collision blamed on human error. “We have a problem with the human element,” he said, promising to have an automated network in place by 2024.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi He pledged to hold accountable those responsible for recurrent fatal accidents on Egypt’s railways in recent years.

One of the deadliest occurred in 2002, when a fire tore through a crowded train south of the capital, killing 373 people.

Egyptian roads are also a common scene of fatal accidents. Road maintenance is generally poor and traffic rules are not respected.

With information from AFP

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