South Giza prosecutor Hamada el-Sawy has begun an investigation into Saturday's deadly train crash in Ayyat. Three railway employees are already in custody pending further investigation. At 6:00 PM on Saturday train 188 rear-ended train 152 in Ayyat on the outskirts of Cairo. The latter train had stopped after hitting a water buffalo. Original estimates put the death toll at over 30 and the official number now stands at 18. Dozens more were injured. Public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud ordered that Halim Hakim, engineer of the train number 188, and Wahid Kamel Moussa, engineer of train number 152, as well as watch tower agent Badr Moutasim Badr held in custody for four days pending further investigation. El-Sawy has charged all three with negligent homicide of 18 citizens and non-voluntary injury of 36 others. They are also charged with incurring damages to the financial and general interest of their employer. Moussa, who was in charge of train 152 at the time of the accident, said during the investigation that he was driving at 60 kilometers per hour before reaching the Raqqa station. Moussa said he was then surprised when an animal got in his way. The engineer told Ahmed el-Rakkib, head of the general prosecution, that after stopping he followed all the prescribed measures, ordering the his assistant and the conductor to place warning signs at the back of the train to caution any train coming from behind. Moussa also asserted that he informed a number of staff at Raqqa and Kafr Ammar stations that he had stopped the train after an air valve broke as a result of hitting the water buffalo. Prosecution investigations found that Badr, the watch tower agent, left his post at Kafr Ammar at 3:00 PM, three hours before the accident. Badr left his colleague Sayed Tahawy to hand over the shift at 7:00 PM, but Tahawy left his post at 5:50 PM and boarded train 152. He was killed in the accident. Osama Seif, head of South Giza accidents prosecution and prosecutors Haitham Abul Hassan, Mohamed Abboud found that the watch tower agents signed in the attendance sheet that they left at 7:00 PM, 35 minutes after the accident. They also signed that they had handed over the shift to their colleagues. The prosecution preserved the attendance record. Halim Hakim, engineer of train 188, was also questioned as part of the investigation. Hakim said that he was unable to see the warning signs issued from the back of train 152 and only realized the train was in front of him when it was too late. He said that he did employee the emergency brakes, which lessened the impact of the crash. Hakim also noted that the area was dark when the accident occurred and suggested that train 152 would have been turned upside down had Hakim had been driving at normal speeds. As another part of the investigation, three professors of railway engineering from Cairo University appeared before the prosecutor el-Sawy. They have been commissioned by the police to conduct their own investigation. The professors will check the black boxes of both trains and inspect the watch tower locations. They say they will also find out if Moussa really placed warning signals behind train 152 after he stopped. The prosecution will listen to testimony from the head of the Railway Authority and his deputy today. The Railway Authority director attended yesterday's interrogation early, but asked to leave in order to attend the parliament's transport commission meeting with Transport Minister Mohamed Mansour. The Railway Authority head said he would return to resume the investigations. El-Sawy gave him permission to leave. Late yesterday, the prosecution summoned the supervisor of Kafr Ammar station to ask whether he received any signals from either engineer before or during the accident. He also asked what time the first train arrived and when the second, which does not stop at minor stations, passed. The crossing worker, who arrived on the scene of the accident moments after the crash, was also brought in for questioning. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
