Small stove caused big inferno
2002-02-26 13:26
Cairo - Flames from a small stove started the fire in an overcrowded
train car that killed 363 people in Egypt's worst train disaster,
investigators have concluded.
Investigators found several small stoves amid the charred debris
of the two train cars that suffered the worst damage in last week's
fire, according to reports in several Egyptian newspapers on Tuesday.
Passengers often carry such stoves to heat food and water for tea
and coffee, despite regulations banning stoves and gas cylinders to
fuel from trains.
Egyptian newspapers said details of a technical report on the
causes of the fire had been provided by members of the
investigation committee and officials in the office of the
prosecutor general, who is overseeing the probe. Officials
contacted on Tuesday could provide no details,
saying the report had not yet been officially handed over to the
prosecutor general.
Top officials resigned
The pro-government newspaper Al-Akhbar said the report, prepared by a committee of top experts and prosecutors, rebutted an earlier theory that the fire might have been caused by an electrical short circuit.
The train to the southern city of Luxor, crowded with people
headed to their home towns and villages for a holiday weekend,
burst into flames early on Wednesday shortly after leaving Cairo. Some passengers jumped to their deaths from the speeding cars and scores of people were trapped inside as the train travelled in flames for 4km before the driver stopped about 95km south of Cairo.
The investigation showed two cars caught fire while the train
was moving, and another five cars caught fire after the train had
stopped. Most of the passengers on the last five cars to catch fire escaped, investigators said.
The wood and other materials used in the cars, together with
wind created by the rushing train, helped spread the fire,
investigators said.
Egypt's transport minister and railway authority chief resigned
after the fire, the deadliest in 150 years of railroading in this
country.
Dilapidated equipment
The train's crew had said overcrowding had made it difficult for
them to respond to the fire. Eid Abdel-Qader, the new director of
the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority, told Al-Akhbar
newspaper that overcrowding cannot be controlled.
"There is no law that allows the authority to prevent any
passenger from getting into the car, everyone has the right to
board and we cannot object to that," Abdel-Qader was quoted as
saying.
Egypt's railway network is weighted down by overstaffing, low
fares and underinvestment. Its equipment is dilapidated and its
service poor. With at least 20% of Egypt's estimated 67
million people living in poverty, the government keeps train fares at a minimum.
President Hosni Mubarak, trying to dampen public outrage over
the disaster, told state television on Friday that he would hold
accountable anyone who proved to have been negligent.
- Sapa-AP
- SAPA