A train accident left at least two dead and 16 injured this Tuesday at the Caliubia railway station, north of Cairo, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Health. The authorities indicated that “the injured are in stable condition.”
The event occurred in Caliubia, in the Nile delta.
Egypt’s national railway authority said that the accident occurred when a passenger train entering the station in that city skipped a stop signal. “This caused the derailment of the locomotive and the first wagon,” the authority said in a statement.
Footage from the scene showed first responders converging on carriages that still appeared to be upside down behind a high wall in a built-up area.
Later a crane was used to lift a derailed wagon It seemed partially destroyed.
Egyptian rail accidents have been blamed mostly on poor infrastructure and maintenance.
In April 2021, the Minister of Transport, Kamel el-Wazirdismissed the director of the railway authority after the commotion caused in the most populous country in the Arab world by the mismanagement of train lines in poor condition.
The dismissal came two days after an accident that killed 23 people.
The dismissal of ashraf raslan It 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 rather they are in line with the next stage, which calls for a complete modernization of the rail network,” the Ministry of Transport stated at the time.
The changes underway “are aimed at offering better services, working 24 hours a day to serve travelers and modernize this essential service that transports 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 accident in the south of the country.according to an official balance that the authorities reviewed several times.
The prosecution later alleged that the driver of the fast-moving Egyptian train and his assistant had 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, vowing to set up an automated network by 2024.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi He has vowed to hold those responsible for recurring fatal accidents on Egyptian railways in recent years to account.
One of the deadliest occurred in 2002, when a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital, killing 373 people.
Egyptian roads are also a common scene of fatal accidents. The maintenance of the roads is usually deficient and traffic regulations are not respected.
With information from AFP
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Source-www.infobae.com