A passenger train crowded with Egyptians heading out of the capital for a holiday weekend caught fire early yesterday, killing 373 people, including some who died as they jumped from the burning, speeding train.
Maher Abdel Wahid, the national general prosecutor who led a team of investigators to the scene, said he did not expect the toll to rise much beyond 373.
It was the worst train accident in Egypt in decades, according to Ahmed al-Sherif, director of the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority.
"There has been nothing in the recent or distant past like this," he said at the scene. "I've been with the railway for 32 years and never seen or heard of an event of this size."
Egypt's Middle East New Agency said the cause of the fire was a burst gas cylinder used for cooking in the dining car. But al-Sherif said the cause had not yet been determined. He said the third-class train had no dining car, but that passengers often brought gas cylinders and small stoves aboard despite regulations forbidding it.
Each car designed to hold about 150 passengers was crammed with twice that number, police said, which would have put more than 3,000 people aboard.
Al-Sherif said the train left Cairo on its 480km journey to Luxor about 11:30pm Tuesday and the fire broke out about 1am yesterday. The train traveled in flames for 4km before finally stopping at Reqa al-Gharbiya, a village 95km south of Cairo. Al-Sherif said it was not clear why the emergency brakes were not applied immediately.
The flames were put out hours later.
Police said 65 people were being treated for injuries. Ambulance workers say 40 bodies were recovered from along the tracks.
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