General Prosecutor orders investigation into Giza train crash

CAIRO – 13 July 2018: Egypt’s General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered the launch of investigations into the train crash occurred earlier on Friday, July 13.

He also ordered the confiscation of the black box of the train in order to ascertain the cause.

The driver of the train that derailed near Giza on Friday, leaving 55 injured, was kept in custody as official investigations were launched into the accident.

The Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat ordered the formation of a committee to probe the incident and reveal its causes.

The air-conditioned train number 986 was coming from Cairo towards Upper Egypt’s Qena, when the three railcars flipped over in Marazeeq Station on Aswa Western Agricultural Road in Giza.

The ministry deployed 25 ambulance vehicles to the accident site, where 17 injured were taken to the Haram Hospital, nine to Hawamdeya Hospital and eight others to Badrashin Hospital. The ministry assured that no further deaths were recorded due to the accident.

Director General of Haram Hospital Dr. Khaled Makhlouf said that he received 21 patients from the train accident, including a case in coma that was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

Mohamed Hamdy Ezz, one of the passengers of the train, gave an account on the accident and how other passengers succeeded to leave the derailed carriages.

“We felt a sudden shake in the train as we approach the station, then we saw the back carriages overturning,” Ezz told Egypt Today. He added that they broke the windows and managed to escape the train, and helped other passengers out. He further mentioned that the train took the wrong turn at a full speed, causing it to flip over.

Head of the Egyptian National Railways Authority Sayed Salem ordered the transferring of lifting tools, cranes and maintenance teams to the scene.

Security agencies imposed a cordon around the accident site. An investigative team arrived at the scene to start probing the incident, listen to eyewitnesses and determine the reasons behind the accident.