Train, bus collision kills dozens of kids — guard said to be asleep
ASSIUT, Egypt — A speeding train crashed into a bus carrying Egyptian children to their school in central Egypt on Saturday, killing at least 51 and driving a wave of anger against the government in Cairo.
The crash, which killed children from 4 to 6 years old and three adults, led to local protests and accusations from outraged Egyptians that President Mohammed Morsi is failing to deliver on the demands of last year’s uprising to improve life for ordinary Egyptians.
The accident left behind a mangled shell of a bus twisted underneath the train outside the city of Assiut, 200 miles south of Cairo. A witness said the train pushed the bus along the tracks for about half a mile.
Residents near the site say the railway crossing guard was asleep Saturday when the bus drove over the track. It appeared the crossing was not closed as the train sped toward it. Authorities detained a railway worker who had fled the scene.
Um Ibrahim, whose three children were on the bus, pulled her hair in grief. “My children! I didn’t feed you before you left,” she cried.
More than a dozen injured children were being treated in hospitals.
After the accident, Morsi appeared on state television, promising an investigation and financial compensation for victims’ families. His transport minister and the head of Egypt’s railways resigned.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful political force and Morsi’s base of support, blamed the crash on a culture of negligence fostered by deposed leader Hosni Mubarak.