Tragedy in the making

Egypt's worst railway accident has claimed hundreds of lives. But will officials learn the lessons necessary to avoid future tragedies, asks Jailan Halawi
Flames from butane cylinders sparked the fire on the Aswan- bound train that left almost 400 dead in Egypt's worst rail disaster last Wednesday, according to the technical committee in charge of the probe.
After a week of investigations the report was submitted on Tuesday to Prosecutor General Maher Abdel-Wahid, rebutting early theories that the fire was caused by an electrical fault. Investigators found several small stoves amid the charred debris of the two carriages that suffered the worst damage, said press reports.
Conflicting theories over the cause of the fire have raged for a week in the press. On the day of the tragedy Egypt's Middle East News Agency blamed "an exploding gas cylinder used for cooking in the train's café" as the cause. The then head of the state-owned Railway Authority, who resigned on Friday along with the minister of transport, quickly pointed out that third class trains did not have buffet cars.
Even before the submission of the report Prime Minister Atef Ebeid briefed reporters on the site that "preliminary investigations indicate that the fire was started by butane cylinders used by passengers to brew tea and coffee during their 12-hour journey despite regulations banning them."
It is a charge vehemently denied by survivors of the catastrophe. "The train was so crowded, people were sitting on the floor. There was no room for them so how in God's name could anyone prepare tea or coffee," one survivor told Al-Ahram Weekly from his hospital bed.
When Aswan-bound train 832 burst into flames it was crammed with an estimated 3,000 third class passengers travelling to the countryside to spend the feast with their families. The fire is thought to have begun two hours after the train left Cairo. Yet unaware of the flames engulfing the carriages the driver continued for at least seven kilometers before he stopped near Al-Ayyat, some 50 km south of Cairo. He then disconnected the last seven carriages, already engulfed by flames, and drove on with ten remaining carriages to the next station.
Most of those who died in the disaster were trapped in the packed carriages. Other passengers, who managed to escape through the barred windows or by jumping from the doors, later succumbed to their injuries.
Speaking on site last Wednesday Ebeid also insisted "there was no problem concerning the train itself or security or fire fighting measures. All vehicles were submitted to security checks by the railroad authorities before the train's departure."
The commission in charge of the inquiry, though, reports that carriages were not equipped with fire alarms, fire extinguishers or emergency brakes and that, in common with much of the railway system's ancient third class rolling stock, there were no emergency exits.
It is no secret that Egypt's railway network has suffered from decades of underinvestment and that the rolling stock used on low cost, third class services, is delapidated to the point of obsolescence. The carriages of the Aswan-bound train were designed to accommodate 150 passengers, though it is likely that twice that number were actually travelling, police said. The train's crew also say that overcrowding made it difficult for them to respond to the fire. Yet according to Eid Abdel-Qader, the new director of the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority, endemic overcrowding is uncontrollable. "There is no law that allows the authority to prevent passengers from boarding a train. Everyone has the right to board and we cannot object," he said.
Resounding to the public's outrage over the disaster, President Hosni Mubarak addressed the nation in a televised speech last Friday, vowing to uncover the cause of the disaster and to hold those responsible to account. "We will permit no attempt to hide the truth or even a part of the truth," Mubarak said. "We have ordered the competent authorities to conduct a complete investigation to determine responsibility and to hold accountable anyone shown to have fallen short in their duties or who were careless in providing safety," Mubarak said.
Anger, alongside grief, though, was one of the overriding emotions at the mass funeral last Sunday as mourners bade farewell to hundreds of victims at the Martyrs' Cemetery, reserved for unidentified bodies, in the City of the Dead.
The feelings of Fouad Mohamed, a 52 year old engineer, who spoke to the Weekly, are typical: "We are fed up with the promises and statements of consolation offered by officials on this and similar occasions," he said, noting that the conflicting reports issued daily by officials to the press were "flagrant proof that the government underestimates people's intelligence." "How," he asked, "could the prime minister be so sure that there was no deficiency or breakdown in safety measures before a complete inquiry?"
Meanwhile, prosecutors are questioning the driver, railway engineers, ticket conductors and other witnesses. Abdel-Wahid has said that the result of the investigations will be made public next week.
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