Death toll from Dahshur crash rises to 27

The death toll from a train accident in Dahshur early Monday rose to 27 people, as paramedics continued to extract bodies from underneath the train, state news agency MENA reported.

According to a Health Ministry statement, 32 people were also injured when the cargo train crashed into a truck and microbus in Dahshur, a village in Giza. 

The casualties and injured, some of whom are in critical condition, have been transferred to 6th of October, Haram, Um al-Masryeen and Qasr al-Aini hospitals. 

The train driver said the railway crossing was not closed as he approached, prompting him to sound the siren several times to no avail. 

The two workers manning the crossing have been arrested, but they say that although they tried to close the crossing, the red light and siren were not working, according to a report in state-owned daily Al-Ahram. The two men added that they attempted to close the crossing manually using the chain but did not make it in time.

Al-Ahram reports that the driver however maintains that he was driving at a speed of 50 km per hour and had hit the breaks over a kilometer before the crossing.

During a press conference Monday, Transport Minister Ibrahim al-Damiry, placed the blame on the truck and microbus drivers for not stopping at the crossing, adding that the sirens had been working.

Damiry said in response to the crash that he has ordered the construction of a bridge over the Dahshur crossing. He added that there are over 4,500 makeshift rail crossings nationwide without the necessary safety precautions. 

Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi also announced on Monday that the victims' families would receive LE15,000 in compensation, while the injured would receive LE5,000. The Giza Governorate will also offer families of the victims LE5,000 in compensation, and LE2,000 for the injured.

The collision comes a day after the anniversary of the death of over 50 people, most of whom were school children, when a train crashed into a school bus crossing the tracks near Manfalut in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Assiut.

Egypt's roads and railways are marred by a poor safety record. Successive governments have failed to enforce basic safety standards, which makes deadly accidents not infrequent.

Earlier this year in January, a train crash also claimed the lives of 19 people and left more than 120 injured in the town of Badrashin in Giza.

Egypt's worst train disaster to date occurred in 2002 when a fire ripped through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train, killing at least 360 people.