Egypt's Public Prosecution said Sunday its ongoing investigations into last month's deadly train collision in the country's south revealed human error and negligence of railway employees were involved. On 26 March, a Spanish train crashed into the back of a standing one in the southern province of Sohag, leaving 20 people dead and 199 others wounded. In a statement, the prosecution said the Spanish train's driver and assistant were not inside the driving cabin at the moment of the collision, and that the head of a central control department, which is responsible for monitoring the movement of trains at the collision site, was not present at his workplace. A drug test for a signaling tower employee and the assistant driver of the standing train has shown their abuse of narcotic substances, the statement said. The prosecution added the driver and assistant of the standing train claimed the train was halted after one of the danger brakes in one railcar was activated. However, witnesses from the wounded, passengers, and workers as well as security personnel on board the train testified that they had not seen any of the danger brake activated, the prosecution noted. More to follow...
