Egypt. 16 dead and dozens injured in derailment in Toukh, north of Cairo

Egyptian media reported that “a train derailed near the town of Toukh in Qalyubia governorate (north of Cairo), killing 16 people and injuring over 100 others”.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s health ministry said in an official statement that 11 people were killed and at least 98 others injured in a derailment accident near Toukh in Qalyubia governorate.

The ministry added that 58 ambulances had been paid to transport the wounded to university hospitals in Benha, the specialist in Qalioub and Benha University (government) in the governorate.

The statement confirmed that the Minister of Health, Hala Zayed, inspected the state of health of the wounded in the train coup at the Benha Health Insurance hospital and recommended that all means of health care be provided. to all the injured.

The Egyptian Railways Authority said in a brief statement that the train was on its way from Cairo to the city of Mansoura in the delta and derailed at 1:54 p.m. local time (11:54 a.m. GMT), about 40 km north. from Cairo. .

Egyptian media reported that the train driver and 8 transport officials were arrested near the crash site, causing trains to stop in the governorates of Lower Egypt.

The official Egyptian governorate of Qalyubia page on Facebook confirmed that 8 cars on the train had derailed, and authorities have not yet clarified the cause of the crash.

Formal inquiry

In turn, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi instructed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to form a committee to find out the causes of the accident.

The railway authority announced that it had formed a technical committee to investigate the causes of the accident.

The Egyptian prosecution also said in a statement that a team had traveled to inspect the overturning of the train in Qalyubia governorate and that measures would be taken to investigate its circumstances.

Local media quoted Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir during the inspection of the crash site as saying: “We will hold all those responsible for the crash to account and we will not shirk responsibility, and we will. working day and night to develop the rail system. ” Publicity

A number of social media users posted a video they claimed was a train overturning between Toukh and Banha in Qalyubia Governorate.

Preliminary results

The same sources said that the train driver and his assistant had not received an official order to slow down the speed in this area, which resulted in the derailment of the cars, the overturning of the train and injuries and injuries.

The accident is the second of its kind in less than a month in Egypt. On March 26, the governorate of Sohag (south) witnessed a collision of two passenger trains, which left 32 dead and 165 injured, according to official statistics.

Egyptians on social media are calling on Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir to resign. The minister rejected the demands and pledged to continue development work on the obsolete rail network.

In May 2018, the Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics in Egypt (official) announced in a statement that the main cause of train collision accidents is the human element, reaching 78.9%, followed by faults vehicles and road conditions.