Prosecutors find gross negligence led to deadly Egyptian train crash

Egyptian prosecutors found that gross negligence was behind a train crash last month that killed 20 people and injured about 200 others.

Factors that led to the March 26 accident in Sohag province included a train driver and assistant ignoring red lights, and drug use, the General Prosecution’s office said yesterday.

The Health Ministry and the railway authority said the accident happened when a train made an unscheduled stop near a station in a rural town.

Another train crashed into the back of the first train, overturning two carriages.

Authorities detained the train drivers, their assistants and signal staff the day after the accident.

Prosecutors said yesterday that the cost of the damage was estimated at about 26 million Egyptian pounds ($1.7m).

Although rail accidents are not uncommon in Egypt, the crash in Sohag caused a public outcry over the loss of lives and raised questions about the large sums spent on upgrading the service.

There were also calls for those found responsible for the crash to be punished.

One key finding in the report contradicted a claim by the railway authority that the first train stopped because someone pulled the emergency brake.

Passengers, conductors and other railway employees on board told investigators they did not hear the loud noise normally produced when the emergency brake is pulled.

Prosecutors did not say why the train stopped.

The report said the driver of the second train and his assistant claimed they were at the wheel at the time of the crash.

The assistant told investigators that light signals remained green until the point that he could see the other train 500 metres ahead. The driver said that he could only see the other train when he was 100 metres behind it.

The head of the regional railway control room left his office without authorisation shortly before the crash and the two employees left in charge showed gross negligence, the report said.

“One of the two employees was late in alerting the incoming train about the other train that stopped and initially gave its driver the wrong number of the other train,” it said.

“The other employee quit trying to get in touch with the driver of the incoming train.”

Prosecutors said the employee claimed to have twice tried to reach the driver by phone, but records showed no such calls were made.

Investigators found that a light signal 1.3 kilometres from the crash site was yellow, informing trains to slow down, and a signal nearer the site was red.

Investigators conducted 13 simulations that all showed the approaching train could have stopped about 500 metres from the crash site if the driver heeded the red light.

Blood tests also showed the assistant driver of the train that made an unscheduled stop and an employee at a signal tower near the site used drugs.

Simulations showed the approaching train could have stopped 500 metres from the crash site if the driver heeded a red light