Egyptian train hits school bus
51 killed, mostly children; anger surges against government
ASSIUT, Egypt — A speeding train that crashed into a bus carrying Egyptian children to their kindergarten on Saturday killed 51 and prompted a wave of anger against a government under mounting pressure to rectify the former regime’s legacy of neglect.
The crash, which killed children between 4 and 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 for basic rights, dignity and social justice.
The accident left behind a mangled shell of a bus twisted underneath the blood-splattered train outside the city of Assiut, some 200 miles south of Cairo.
Um Ibrahim, a mother whose three children were on the bus, pulled her hair in grief. “My children! I didn’t feed you before you left,” she wailed in horror. A witness said the train pushed the bus along the tracks for nearly half a mile. More than a dozen injured children were being treated in two different facilities, many with severed limbs and in critical condition.
Several hours 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.
“Those responsible for this accident will be held accountable,” Morsi said.
The response, his critics say, comes too little too late. For months, transport workers have been complaining about poor management and poor working conditions. Saturday’s accident came one week after two trains collided south of Cairo, killing four people.
While many train accidents in Egypt are blamed on an outdated system that relies heavily on switch operators instead of automated signaling, the high death toll and fact that nearly all those killed were young children will likely give ammunition to Morsi’s critics who say he has done little to improve life for ordinary Egyptians.
Opposition activists have accused Morsi of continuing the mistakes of his predecessor by not overhauling government services. They say he is too focused on foreign policy while moving slowly to tackle domestic problems.
A day before Saturday’s accident in al-Mandara village in Assiut province, the president positioned Egypt as a new Arab champion for the Palestinians. But with more children killed in Saturday’s accident than by Israeli bombs in the Gaza Strip since an escalation in fighting this week, he is being called on to refocus efforts at home.
“The blood of people in Assiut is more important than Gaza,” said Sheik Mohammed Hassan, a village elder speaking at the scene of the accident.