CAIRO: The train left Cairo on Saturday on its way to the southern Egyptian city of Assuit with hundreds of passengers looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends. But, shortly after leaving the capital, the train smashed into a second train, destroying several of the cars and killing at least 30 people, reports indicated early Sunday morning. The accident, which made little news on Egypt’s national television, left observers and activists angered over the government’s apparent lack of movement.

One passenger, who recounted the horror, told Al Jazeera of his frustrations with the Egyptian government on Sunday morning, as cameras arrived on the scene to show footage from the carnage.

Another 55 people are reportedly injured from the crash, which occurred shortly after leaving Cairo.

It appears that the train that had left Cairo was the reason for the crash with the second train on its way to Fayoum – an oasis town around an hour from Cairo, Egypt’s government-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

According to a Reuters report, the second train had stopped on the tracks before being slammed into.

On Twitter, Egyptian activists began reporting the incident before major news networks had reported on the incident. Arabawy, Egypt’s top blogger, has said that a majority of those killed were poor travelers and were mainly women. Al Jazeera also reported a similar statement.

The incident has highlighted the poor conditions inside trains and the government’s apparent lack of upkeep on its fleet of trains, many decades old. Last year, conductors held a short-lived strike in order to force the government to intervene in the need to improve the country’s trains. The strike ended without much movement from the government.

One conductor said at the time that train conditions in Egypt “are not good. Our trains are in such bad shape that accidents are bound to happen. The system is falling apart.”

Last summer, another train arriving in Alexandria slammed into another train at the main Sidi Gabr train depot, leaving two passenger cars totaled. Luckily, nobody was injured in the accident, but worries that this could happen at any time came out strong.

“Now, we see that this situation is getting worse and people are dying because the government doesn’t seem to care about doing anything to protect its people,” said a passenger at Cairo’s Ramsis train station on Saturday evening as he attempted to decide whether he would take the short two and a half hour ride to Alexandria on Sunday morning.

Egypt’s worst railway disaster occurred in February 2002 after a train heading to Upper Egypt caught on fire, killing at least 360 people. At the time, the government said it would increase security and travelers’ safety, but has done little to help curtail further incidents. In the 2002 accident, many of the people killed were unable to leave their cars due to the steel bars placed on the windows, creating a burning furnace in each car.

BM

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