Egyptian officials say Wednesday’s deadly fire at Cairo’s main railway station was due to negligence on the part of the train driver.
At least 20 people died with more that 40 others sustaining injuries in the large fire.
Egypt’s National Railway Authority said the fire erupted after a train collided with a concrete buffer stop.
The collision happened at the Ramses Station, in the city centre, resulting in the train’s fuel tank exploding.
The exploded fuel tank then set the entire station and nearby buildings on fire, according to Railway authority.
On Thursday it was revealed by Egyptian prosecutors that the train driver had left the train brakes to argue with a colleague.
Despite these details from preliminary investigation the driver, who has been arrested is rather blaming corroded brakes.
The driver was quoted by local media as saying that the train “would not have moved by itself” if it wasn’t faulty.
Egypt’s ON TV channel further quotes the driver as saying that “the brakes are corroded and the wheels are corroded.”
Witness account
Another witness told Reuters of how he “saw a man pointing from the locomotive as it entered the platform, and screaming ‘There are no brakes, there are no brakes.”
A privately owned news website al-Shorouk also reported that this wasn’t the first time a train moved without a conductor.
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Wednesday said the incident would be investigated.
He promised that anyone found responsible for the disaster will be punished.
Egypt in the past had witnessed deadly train disasters. In August 2017, 43 people were killed and more than 100 injured when two trains collided in Alexandria.
In 2002 the country recorded its deadliest rail accident in Cairo when a train destroyed by fire led to the death of over 370 people.
Source: Africafeeds.com
