CAIRO: A passenger train arriving at Alexandria's main train station, Mahatet Masr, crashed after it derailed inside the main hall, eyewitnesses said. Blogger Andrew Heiss, wrote on his blog AndrewHeiss.com that the first three cars in the train were nearly completing destroyed from the impact. “Immediately after we got off the train we saw the reason for the delay. A train had rammed into the station, apparently at full speed, derailing the first three cars—the engine, the generator, and the first actual cabin. Part of the station itself was damaged, as was, ironically enough, a parked fire truck,” he wrote on his site. Heiss also posted photos of the incident. No deaths were reported despite earlier claims that hundreds could have been killed. Heiss also says he did not hear of any deaths and the number of injured was unclear. He reported that the train had crashed, not in the evening as initially reported, but early in the morning and crews were already clearing the debris when he arrived at around 12:30 in the early afternoon. “By 6:00 PM, when we arrived back at the station to return to Cairo, the repairmen were working on lifting the engine and had apparently already extricated the generator car,” he wrote. Last year, Egypt's train conductors went on a number of demonstrations. During these protests, a number of conductors were heard chanting about the poor conditions of the country's railways and trains themselves. Unfortunately on Thursday their fears were realized. BM
