Deadly Cairo train crash brings to surface anger, discontent in Egypt
Egyptians are fed up with the government’s negligence of the railway sector after a fatal train crash killed more than 22 people in Cairo.
Mohamed Ramadan watched from his small office as the out of control locomotive sped past him on platform four of Cairo’s Ramses train station just after 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 27. In the seconds before it smashed into the end barrier of the station and burst into flames, he yelled out to bystanders warning them to get out of the way.
“It was coming so quick before it hit the stop and then exploded, taking everything in its way,” Ramadan told Al-Monitor. He said he ran in the direction of the explosion almost immediately, to those who had caught fire.
“I saw an elderly man who was on fire and I was able to help him put out the flames,” Ramadan noted. “But then I came across a girl in her 20s who was on fire and we tried to put a blanket on her. I don’t know if she survived.”
At least 22 people died and over 40 were injured, many critically, in the explosion and ensuing fire after a single train carriage crashed into the station, according to Minister of Health Hala Zayed.
