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At least 25 killed in fire at Cairo train station, Egyptian medical official says
ReplyDeleteAn Egyptian medical official said Wednesday that 25 people were killed and at least 47 were injured when a major fire erupted at the main train station in Cairo.
Mohammed Said, the head of the Cairo Railroad hospital, said the death toll is expected to rise.
The fire is said to have been triggered by a fuel tank explosion on a speeding train headed into the Ramsis station in downtown Cairo.
"I was standing on the platform and I saw the train speed into the barrier,” eyewitness Mina Ghaly told Reuters. “Everyone started running but a lot of people died after the locomotive exploded. I saw at least nine corpses lying on the ground, charred.”
The daily Al-Ahram says the train crashed and the fuel tank exploded, causing the fire, but details were still not confirmed.
The country's top prosecutor, Nabil Sadek has ordered an investigation into the deadly crash.
Dozens killed in fire at Cairo train station triggered by fuel tank explosion on speeding train
ReplyDeleteAn Egyptian medical official said Wednesday that 25 people were killed and at least 50 were injured when a major fire erupted at the main train station in Cairo.
Mohammed Said, the head of the Cairo Railroad hospital, said the death toll is expected to rise.
The fire is said to have been triggered by a fuel tank explosion on a speeding train headed into the Ramsis station in downtown Cairo. Several witnesses said they saw fire coming out of the train's engine before it crashed.
"I was standing on the platform and I saw the train speed into the barrier,” eyewitness Mina Ghaly told Reuters. “Everyone started running but a lot of people died after the locomotive exploded. I saw at least nine corpses lying on the ground, charred.”
Ibrahim Hussein, an eyewitness also told Reuters: “I saw a man pointing from the locomotive as it entered the platform, and screaming ‘There are no brakes, there are no brakes’ before he jumped out of the locomotive. And I don’t know what happened to him.”
Ahmed Abdeltawab said the platform had been crowded with people waiting for another train when "fire overwhelmed them and they ran while they were on fire until they fell meters from the incident."
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli visited the chaotic scene and said the cause of the collision had not been determined.
"We will identify who is responsible for the accident and they will be held accountable," he told the BBC.
The country's general prosecutor, Nabil Sadek, has ordered an investigation into the deadly crash. Egypt has one of the oldest rail networks in the region, with accidents causing casualties being fairly common. All train departures and arrivals to the station have been suspended.
Ali Ramadan told Reuters he suffered burns and injured his foot when he ran into a concrete bench on the platform.
“I don’t know when these train accidents will end ... They told us they got millions of dollars’ worth of new locomotives and trains, and people are still dying because of train accidents.”