28 March - 3 April 2002
Issue No.579
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 March - 3 April 2002 Issue No.579 |
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Rail disaster trial
Eleven railway employees are to be tried on charges of gross negligence in Egypt's worst train accident which claimed hundreds of lives. Jailan Halawi reports
Following a month of extensive investigations, Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel-Wahed has announced that gross negligence on the part of rail authority employees led to the 20 February train tragedy. The national railway system was inadequately prepared in terms of maintenance standards, alertness level or supervision capacity to deal with such an incident, Abdel-Wahed said.
Abdel-Wahed
On Saturday, he referred 11 rail employees to Giza's Misdemeanours Court on charges of gross negligence and falsification of facts, which led to the death of 361 people and injured 66 others. They were also charged with ignoring railway regulations. Their carelessness had cost LE1.6 million in material damage, Abdel-Wahed said.
According to a report submitted to Abdel-Wahed by the technical committee in charge of the probe, a fire of unproven source had started near incendiary objects carried by passengers aboard the train, including kerosene stoves or butane gas cylinders that were found in the wreckage. The committee concluded that the fire had started in the 11th carriage of the 16-carriage train and that flammable materials inside the train, such as the wooden seats, had quickly fed the flames, which engulfed seven cars. Not only was there a shortage of fire extinguishers on the train, but those available did not function properly, the report added. The train's carriages, worn out with age, were not equipped with fire alarms, emergency brakes or emergency exits.
The report confirmed what Prime Minister Atef Ebeid told reporters at the site on the day of the disaster: that the fire was started by "butane gas cylinders used by passengers to make tea and coffee during their 12-hour journey [to Aswan], despite regulations banning them." This charge was vehemently denied by survivors of the train fire, who affirmed that "the train was so crowded that people were sitting even on the floor and that there was no room for humans, let alone cooking."
However, the prosecutor's report ruled out earlier theories, including the possibility of faulty wiring on the train, an electrical short-circuit or an explosion.
Public outrage over the disaster did not revolve around the cause of the fire, however, but around the failure of the rail authorities in taking adequate safety measures.
Opposition papers lashed out at the government with headlines that read, "Put those responsible on trial... We need to know who was responsible and hang them for what they have done to the helpless Egyptian people."
President Hosni Mubarak vowed to hold those proven responsible accountable. Abdel-Wahed cited this in his report while announcing the suspects' referral to court.
Two of the 11 railway officials to be tried were charged with falsifying official papers, erroneously stating that the train was fit to carry passengers. Employees from the maintenance department were accused of failing to ensure that an adequate number of working fire extinguishers were on board the train. Other rail employees were blamed for allowing too many travellers -- estimated at 4,000 people -- to board the train. According to police reports, the train carriages, designed to accommodate about 150 passengers each, were crammed with twice that number.
Egypt's railway network -- the first in the Middle East and Africa -- is burdened by overstaffing, low fares and under-investment. Its equipment and facilities are dilapidated and its services are poor. Third-class trains haul worn-out carriages which have already been used for years in first and second-class trains.
The fire that ripped through seven carriages of the crowded passenger train last month caused the worst accident in 150 years of Egyptian rail history. The train rolled on, ablaze, for several kilometres after the fire broke out, the wind fanning the flames.
The train was crammed with thousands of Egyptians travelling to the countryside to spend the Muslim feast of sacrifice (Eid El-Adha) with their families. Two hours after the train left Cairo, one of the back carriages caught fire. Unaware of the fire, the driver sped away for at least seven kilometres before he finally stopped, disconnected the burning carriages and drove on.
Most of those who died in the disaster were burned to death, trapped in the over-packed carriages with barred windows and jammed doors. Some passengers, who were able to jump off the speeding train, survived.
Following the disaster, the minister of transport and the head of the Railway Authority submitted their resignations.
No date has yet been set for the trial of the 11 suspects.
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