Monitoring Desk
CAIRO: A train crash in Egypt killed 4 people and injured more than twenty, officials said on Wednesday about the latest in a series of deadly traffic accidents blamed on mismanagement and aging infrastructure.
National Railways Authority said in a statement that the speedy train overshot the station and reached into the buffers at the end of the track after crossing a stop signal in the Nile Delta city of Qalyub north of Cairo.
The statement added that it caused the derailment of the locomotive and the first carriage.
Pictures from the site showed emergency staff overnight using a crane to remove the derailed coach that was partially crumpled.
The health ministry later gave the final toll of 4 killed and twenty-three injured, doubling the number of deceased that had been announced earlier.
The solidarity ministry said that families of those deceased in the latest tragedy would receive compensation worth $3,000. It added that the injured would also be compensated with a similar amount.
President on accidents’ recurrence in Egypt
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pledged to hold to account those responsible for recurrent lethal rail accidents in the country.
In April 2021, Transport Minister Kamel el-Wazir removed the rail authority’s chief following anger over the mismanagement of dilapidated train lines.
The removal came after 2 train accidents within less than a month that claimed more than 40 lives.
