Egyptian trains collide, killing up to 80
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-08-21 15:21
QALYOUB, Egypt - Two Egyptian trains collided on Monday, killing up to 80
people and injuring twice that number in a Nile Delta town north of Cairo, a
security source said.
Early casualty figures varied widely. The official
news agency MENA said between 20 and 26 had died, whilst pan-Arab Al Jazeera
satellite television news reported 65 dead.
A view of the site of
a train collision in Qalyoub, north of Cairo, August 21, 2006. Two
Egyptian trains collided on Monday, killing up to 80 people and injuring
twice that number in a Nile Delta town north of Cairo, a security source
said. [Reuters] |
MENA said one of the drivers
ignored railway traffic signals, and one train rammed into the rear of the other
in the early morning accident.
A Reuters photographer at the scene said
one train appeared to have derailed and was lying on its side, split into four
parts, and appeared to have burned.
A score of ambulances rushed to the
crash site, which was sealed off to the public by a large security contingent,
but another person at the scene said the force of the crash ripped seats from
carriages, which were littered with clothes and shoes.
The carriages
were crushed together like an accordion, he said.
About 1,000 bystanders
and relatives of travellers anxious for news gathered near the site outside the
town of Qalyoub, about 20 km (12 miles) north of Cairo.
Officials called
on Egyptians to give blood over loudhailers, and a queue formed in response.
The crash was the deadliest railway accident in Egypt since about 360
were killed in 2002 when a fire ripped through seven carriages of a crowded
passenger train. That accident was the worst in 150 years of Egyptian rail
history and prompted the transport minister and state railways boss to
resign.
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