47 children killed in horrific train crash

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47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by hatusu »

Up to 47 people have been killed after a train collided with a bus in a city south of the Egyptian capital Cairo.

A senior security official in Assiut, near the crash site, said 44 of the dead were children, aged between four and eight years.

Two women and a man, who was probably the bus driver, also died, he added.

The state news agency said another 13 people were injured. A medical source said as many as 28 were injured, 27 of them children.

"They told us the barriers were open when the bus crossed the tracks and the train collided with it," doctor Mohamed Samir said, citing witness accounts.

He said the bodies of many of those killed were severely mutilated, indicating the force of the crash, which took place in the city of Manfalut, near Assiut, some 190 miles south of the capital.

President Mohamed Mursi ordered his ministers to offer support to the families of those killed.

Transport Minister Mohamed Rashad has offered his resignation, which President Mursi was considering, state media reported.

The governor of Assiut, Yahya Keshk, has ordered an inquiry.

Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record.

Egyptians have complained that successive governments have failed to enforce basic safety standards, leading to a string of deadly accidents.

Earlier this month, at least three Egyptians were killed and more than 30 injured in a train crash in Fayoum, another city south of Cairo.

In July, 15 people were injured in Giza, close to the capital, when a train derailed.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/dozens-killed- ... 20657.html


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Re: 37 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by HEPZIBAH »

I was just reading this and about to post it too.

So sad. :(
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Re: 37 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by carrie »

It said on BBC that it was 200 miles south of Cairo.
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Re: 37 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by DJKeefy »

UPDATE:
General-prosecutor launches investigations into transport minister, head of railway authority and crossing guard after train hit school bus carrying 60 children in Upper Egypt Saturday morning; death toll rises to 50

The death toll from Saturday morning's fatal collision between a train and an Egyptian school bus in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Assiut has risen to 50, with 18 injured and seven in a critical state, Assiut's governor announced Saturday afternoon.

President Mohamed Morsi is expected to give a speech in response to the accident shortly.

According to state-owned news agency MENA, Prime Minister Hisham Qandil is on his way to the village of Manfalout, where the accident took place, accompanied by both the minister of health and minister of education to look into the cause of the collision.

Egypt's prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud has ordered an investigation into the minister of transportation, the head of the railway authority and the crossing guard who was on duty at the time of the crash.

The school bus was carrying 60 children, reportedly aged between four and six years old, when it was hit by the train as it was passed over the railway crossing. The dead are mostly children and the bus driver and his assistant were also killed, Egypt's Ministry of Interior confirmed.

According to the latest press statement from the country's railway authority, the bus driver drove over the crossing even though the warning lights and sirens were on, in full view of the guard and a traffic policeman.

Meanwhile, acting director of the railway authority Hussein Zakaria told Al-Ahram Arabic language news website that families of the school children gathered at the location of the collision are preventing railway workers from removing the wreckage from the track.

"People are currently blocking the road, some are collecting the remaining body parts," Osama Seddik, an eyewitness at the crash site, told Ahram Online.

According to Seddik, the families in the village allege that the railway crossing guard was asleep when the bus carrying the children drove over the railway track.

Seddik also said that police only arrived around 9am though the accident occurred two hours earlier. He added that only one ambulance was sent as a first response to the accident.

"By the time they sent a well-equipped ambulance, the children had died," added Seddik.

Several families of the killed children are there on the scene, blocking the road. Others are at the local morgue, and some are taking their children's remains to be buried.

Meanwhile, Minister of Transportation Mohamed Rashad El-Metiny resigned following the accident. According to El-Metiny, responsibility for the accident ultimately falls on him.

Head of the Railway Authority, Mostafa Qenawi, also submitted his resignation and will fall under investigation on the accident.

According to a report published in July 2011 by the Central Authority for Public Transport, road and rail accidents claimed over 7,000 lives in Egypt in 2010 — a rise of 7.9 per cent over the previous year.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/58371.aspx
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by hatusu »

If this appalling tragedy doesnt give the powers that be a wakeup call regarding road safety, then nothing ever will
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by Teddyboy »

Insh'Allah, hatusu!
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by Winged Isis »

"Others are at the local morgue, and some are taking their children's remains to be buried."

Dear Lord! Hell on earth. God bless them and their little ones.
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by Winged Isis »

The tragedy (I was going to sy "accident", but this was no accident! :x ) happened at Al or El Mondah (sp?), according to the latest TV news here. Apparently, the train continued for half a kilometre before stopping! They had a snowball's chance in Hell of surviving, poor little souls. Death toll up to 50 now. :cc
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by DJKeefy »

Anger mounts over Assiut fatal bus-train accident.

Eyewitnesses and rights groups describe horrific scenes at Upper Egyptian crash site as protesters demand government be held responsible for deaths of 50 children; Egypt's transport minister investigated.

Egypt's Transport Minister Rashad El-Metini has been called for interrogation by the public prosecution, and banned from leaving the country after announcing his resignation following the deaths of 50 school children in a fatal bus accident in Upper Egypt on Saturday.

El-Matini, who potentially faces charges of negligence, was the second official to resign, Railway Authority head Mostafa Qenawi also stepped down following the incident.

A bus carrying 60 kindergarten children, aged between four and six years old, was reportedly hit by a train as it drove over a railway crossing in the Assiut village of Manfalout, Saturday morning.

There are conflicting reports of how the collision happened. The Railway Authority earlier claimed that the bus driver drove the school bus over the tracks despite the fact that the warning lights and sirens were sounding.

However, other eyewitnesses speaking to Al-Ahram's Arabic language news website asserted that the train passed through the crossing at an unexpected time.


Bloody scenes, bodies unidentified

A Human Rights report issued the same day by the New World for Development and Human Rights Foundation, who were among the first to arrive to the scene, stated that the death toll of children had risen from 47 to 50 with another 13 in a critical condition.

Hundreds of family members gathered at the scene to identify their lost loved ones, however according to the report only 43 of the child victims have been named, six bodies remain unidentified.

In addition, Egypt's Interior Ministry earlier stated that both the bus driver and his assistant were among the dead.

The report described a blood-spattered railway track, as body parts of slain children remain trapped under the train. Families of those killed, who blocked the track and neighboring road, reportedly refused to remove the bodies before an investigative committee examined the evidence.

"The accident scene was horrific. You could see children uniforms and school books scattered around with blood stains on them," Ahmed Abdel-Karim, an activist at the scene told Ahram Online.

The fatal crash could be attributed to negligence, Abdel-Karim continued, as the 60 children were crammed into the mini-bus that was built to accommodate only 30 people.

In the afternoon, tens of activists gathered at the Assiut governorate headquarters calling for the resignation of governor Yehia Keshk, families of the victims demanded that the ministry be held accountable. A symbolic funeral was also staged in front of the government building according to Abdel-Karim who attended the protest and funeral.

Protests also took place at the Assiut hospital, where the victims were being treated, which were subsequently beaten up by police, Abdel-Karim reported.

The majority of the injuries at the hospital, he added, were severe.


Political groups slam Qandil administration

Different political parties groups released statements claiming that government neglect of roads and poor public transportation services were to blame and have resulted in the loss of many lives over the course of the last few years.

"The martyrdom of 50 children in the Assiut train accident on Saturday is only one of a series of accidents caused by negligence," stated the Constitution Party which called for the transport system to be completely restructured.

"The consecutive road accidents are the result of the failure of past governments - the continuation [of these incidents] is a sign that the current government lacks political vision and fails to rightly prioritise," the statement added.

April 6 Youth Movement also denounced Hisham Qandil's administration for, it said, lacking the capability to face up to a crisis and to hold those responsible to account.

The youth group demanded a new national coalition government that is"capable of dealing with the situation.

"The government failed to accomplish anything that would make us proud of it as a post-revolution administration," the statement read.


Egypt's transport problem

Egypt has witnessed an increase in fatal road and train accidents.

On the same day as the Assiut tragedy, another twelve were killed and several injured after a microbus collided with a lorry on the Wahat Road in south Giza.

Last Saturday, a train accident in the governorate of Fayoum claimed four lives.

October also saw a number of major accidents: three people died and twelve were injured in two separate incidents on the same train in the Nile Delta's Qalioubiya governorate.

In addition, 21 soldiers were killed and 27 injured on 8 October, after a police driver lost control of the vehicle on rugged terrain in northern Sinai.

According to a report published in July 2011 by the Central Authority for Public Transport, road and rail accidents claimed over 7,000 lives in Egypt in 2010 — a rise of 7.9 per cent over the previous year.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/58430.aspx
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by Teddyboy »

"The fatal crash could be attributed to negligence, Abdel-Karim continued, as the 60 children were crammed into the mini-bus that was built to accommodate only 30 people."

Negligence on whose part, I wonder?

The driver and/or escort? They must realise that there are too many on the 'bus, day by day, but the boss gives him his instructions! (If he doesn't comply he'll probably get the sack!)
The boss? Who will also realise that this isn't right, but there'll only be so much money available (from whosoever?) to pay for the transport.
Whoever is paying the bill? They also must have a good idea whether they are actually paying enough to provide safe transport.
The school staff? Who, surely, must be aware of the number of children piling off the bus, and squeezing back on again, too.
The parents? They obviously know that their children are packed into the little 'bus like sardines.

Of course we don't yet know whether the crossing man was asleep (as was reported originally) or whether the driver went through the crossing when the lights and sirens were sounding, so either could carry some of the responsibility, as could their respective managers and/or employers.

Or, as seems to be being accepted as the case with the resignations of some of the 'top' men, the ultimate responsibility could lie with the heads of various Ministries and the rest of the state machine of lawmakers and enforcers!

The poor little children trusted the whole lot of them, and were let down very badly!

We can see the same sort of misadventure on the streets of Luxor every day! Children standing on the roof-racks of mini-buses full of wedding guests, as they edge through the heavy traffic! Children riding motor cycles the wrong way along crowded streets! (Surely with the full knowledge of their parents?) Or driving caleches full of tourists or locals (it doesn't really matter which, but the tourists often have the reassurance of tour guides that it's OK, as some sort of excuse!). A seven year old on the streets polishing shoes, while weighing up a tourist who wants to give him 100le for access to his bottom!!!!!

I just wonder what common expression each level of callous, lazy, cowardly and incompetent person, with supposed 'authority' in such situations, might routinely use as they pass-the-buck and disclaim any responsibility?
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by Hafiz »

BBC World Service is reporting that the crossing supervisor was asleep at the time - but maybe any scapegoat will do - however as the driver is dead someone else might be needed to satisfy public anger.

Proposals to hold current Government to account are ridiculous. They can't be responsible in several months for under investment over decades. Besides drivers in any country must drive to suit road conditions and therefore are responsible in most situations that don't include vehicle malfunction or major road problems.

The bells and whistles at the crossing are irrelevant to responsibility. Whether they were working or not the driver has to take care and check for themself - it can't be all that hard in a country as flat as Egypt.

The school or others who overloaded the bus may be accountable for little because the fact (?) that it was overloaded is unlikely to have caused the crash.

The sleeping supervisor is unlikely to have been a cause of the accident - although not being there(?) contributed to it.

Unless something amazing and unexpected happened, I can't see how anyone but the driver caused the accident.
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by Teddyboy »

Regarding the overloading; at least 20 (so far) would have not been killed had the 'bus not been overloaded. Is that not more than 'a little'?
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by DJKeefy »

Assiut train driver: I was not signalled to stop the train.

Driver of the train that killed of tens of children in Assiut says crossing guard did not warn him to stop.

Youssef Yonan, the driver of the train that crashed with the school bus on Saturday in Assiut claimed during investigations that no signal was given to him to stop.

Yonan, who was accused by the prosecution of responsiblity for the accident that killed tens of children, said that the track was opened in front of him at the time of the accident, and that the crossing guard did not give him any signal to stop.

Meanwhile, the prosecution's investigations has revealed on Saturday that the bus carrying the children was in a decrepit state, adding that it was designed to carry a maximum of 29 passengers, not the 69 who were on board at the time of the tragedy.

On Saturday, officials from the Railway Authority had claimed that the bus driver drove the school bus over the tracks despite the fact that the warning lights and sirens were sounding.

However, on Sunday, assistant head of the Railway authority in Upper Egypt said that the Mandara rail track where the accident took place is not equipped with sirens at all.

Also facing questioning in the case was the former head of Railway authority Mostafa Qenawy, and ex-minister of transportation Rashad El-Metiny.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/58498.aspx
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by Hafiz »

For Teddyboy - my point was that overloading is unlikely to have caused the accident.

I don't understand the article posted by DJKeefy - for example 'no signal was given to him (train driver) to stop" - trains take ages to stop and a signal would have to be given hundreds of meters from the crossing but assuming trains don't stop regularly he might be suggesting that bus was somehow stuck on the crossing. That the bus was stuck seems to be the only option not suggested so far. The various reports are starting to sound mad and contradictory and scapegoats are being lined up.

A proper government would be making promises for future automatic boom gates whilst looking for those involved. Except in the delta this wouldn't be a big job. A few salutatory long jail sentences for drivers might also be a good idea - but what about the school which must have allowed the overloading - or even planned it to save money.
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Re: 47 children killed in horrific train crash

Post by DJKeefy »

Authorities ignored safety complaints before Assiut crash: Railway workers

Railway worker says authorities ignored warnings that Assiut rail crossing needed repairs before accident that killed 50 people, mostly children, on Saturday.

Authorities ignored previous warnings that the railway crossing in Assiut where a train-bus crash killed 50 people on Saturday required repairs, a lawyer for the one of the crossing workers under investigation said.

Crossing workers had submitted several complaints to the railway authority stating the crossing's alarm system and telephone were broken at the the Mandara crossing, the site of the disaster, according to the lawyer.

Youssef Younan, the train driver who is also facing charges in the case, has told the prosecution that he did not break the speed limit before the crash. He added that workers at the crossing did not turn on the emergency alarm.

The prosecution has attempted to obtain testimonies from hospitalised children, but the six who were able to speak said they saw nothing before the train crashed into their school bus.

The prosecution has found no evidence so far that the bus driver breached any safety gates, despite claims to the contrary by the railway authority.

Fifty people died when a train hit a school bus on the track in Manfalout village in Assiut on Saturday. Eighteen were also injured, including seven in a critical condition. The interior ministry later confirmed that most of the dead were children. The bus driver and his assistant were also killed.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/58601.aspx
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