EGYPTIAN TRAIN CRASH KILLS 58, INJURES MANY

By Aziz El-Kaissouni August 21, 2006

QALYOUB, Egypt (Reuters) - A train crash killed 58 people and injured scores more in a Nile Delta town north of Cairo on Monday in Egypt's worst rail disaster in four years.

An investigation was underway after a train driver apparently ignored a signal and one commuter train plowed into the rear of another early on Monday, 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 probe. 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 meters (yards), and while he was moving, the two trains impacted," he told Reuters, 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.

"I told them there are dead and dying there on the ground."

APPEAL FOR BLOOD

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 20 km (12 miles) north of Cairo, on the outskirts of Qalyoub.

Security troops linked arms to keep the crowds away. 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 ($871) to families of the dead and 1,000 pounds for the injured. It would also cover funeral costs.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif demanded 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 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. Investigations primarily blamed the captain, who died, for not following safety procedures, but the public directed its rage at the ferry owner, a member of parliament.

Monday'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.