Train derails in accident-prone Giza area killing 5, injuring 27

Five people were killed and 27 injured in Ayat, Giza when a train travelling from Cairo to Aswan derailed on Wednesday morning, the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm reports, citing an emergency services official.

Three of the train’s carriages derailed and flipped over after colliding with a metal obstruction on the tracks. Security forces have detained the train driver, his assistant and a railroad crossing worker pending investigations into the incident.

The area is known for deadly train accidents, and local residents have repeatedly filed complaints, criticizing the worn out rails and the absence of a proper operating system for the railroad crossings where the most incidents occur. Transport Minister Galal Saeed, however, stated that human error was responsible for Wednesday’s accident, and that there will be severe repercussions. He added that a committee will be formed to determine those responsible.

In 2002 Ayat saw the deadliest accident on Egypt’s railways to date when a fire broke out in a train, also travelling the Cairo to Aswan route, killing 361 people. Transport Minister at the time Ibrahim al-Demiry resigned following the accident, and though 11 officials were referred to trial on charges of negligence, they were all later acquitted.

In the most recent incident in the area a train collided with a car at the Beleida railway crossing in January of this year, killing six people.

The past few years have seen an increase in the number of deadly train accidents. According to a 2014 report issued by CAMPAS the condition of Egypt’s railways is to blame for most fatalities, however it notes that a significant number of recorded incidents occur at manually operated railroad crossings.