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Annan
Expresses Condolences To Egypt For Massive Train Fire
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| Rescue workers carry a
burned body from the disaster train. |
UNITED
NATIONS, Feb. 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.N. Secretary General Kofi
Annan sent his condolences to relatives of more than 370 people who were killed
Wednesday in Egypt's worst ever train disaster, news agencies reported.
"The
secretary general is deeply saddened to learn of the fire that broke out on a
moving train" near Al-Ayatt, 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Cairo,
Annan's spokesman said in a statement.
"The
Secretary General extends his deepest condolences to the relatives of the
deceased and to the government of Egypt," the statement added.
Rabia
al-Metenawi, a senior municipal official in Al-Ayatt, said 373 people, many of
them children, died as they headed home for the Eid al-Adha holiday, which
celebrates the Muslim pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Egyptian
Prime Minister Atef Ebeid told reporters at the scene that portable stoves used
by passengers to heat food on the long trip south set off the blaze, which
gutted seven of the 16 carriages of the train.
However,
several survivors interviewed by Agence France-Presse (AFP) said they saw nobody
using the stoves because the carriages were too crowded to set them up.
Ebeid
ruled out a technical fault for the tragedy or an error by the train crew,
despite the long distance traveled by the burning carriages before coming to a
halt.
Police
had earlier listed both stoves or a short-circuit as the cause of the disaster.
The
driver was not immediately aware of the fire because it broke out in the rear
carriages, but reacted well when he realized, the top rescue official said.
He
stopped the train, separated the seven burning carriages from the others, and
moved the front part of the train forward, the official added.
Rescue
officials said doors were difficult to open and windows hard to escape through
because they had metal bars.
The
injured were transported to several hospitals in the area as well as one in
Cairo, Egypt's official MENA news agency said.
MENA
said that 20 firefighting vehicles and 30 ambulances were sent to the scene,
while the interior ministry said the fire took several hours to extinguish.
Rescue
vehicles had trouble reaching the site of the disaster in this farming but
heavily populated region because a canal separates the railroad from the main
road.
Egypt's
President Hosni Mubarak said he was "deeply distressed and saddened"
by the deaths, while the German, Jordanian, Moroccan and French governments, as
well as the European Union, sent condolences to the Egyptian authorities.
Most
of the people who died in the worst rail disaster in Egyptian history were
burned to death as they tried to escape through jammed doors and barred windows,
while the rest were killed after jumping from the moving train.
The
blaze broke out at 2:00 am (0000 GMT) in the rear part of the train shortly
after it left the station in Al-Ayatt, but it was several kilometers (miles)
before the train was brought to a halt.
Police
praised the driver for separating the burning carriages from the rest of the
train, saying it had saved hundreds more lives.
Those
who were trapped died in what General Ali Abdel Aal, head of the rescue
operations, likened to a "burning prison".
Some
200 bodies, most of them charred, were laid out by the tracks, as firefighters
searched the carriages for more victims and retrieved those who had jumped for
their lives from further up the line.
An
AFP reporter saw many small charred figures, which were apparently children. The
acrid odor of burned flesh hung in the air.
Fire
officials said 54 people were injured in the accident.
Train
number 832 from Cairo to Aswan, 800 kilometers (480 miles) to the south, was
packed with Egyptians heading home for the Eid al-Adha holiday, which celebrates
the Muslim pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
On
Thursday, February 21, while state-sponsored papers highlighted efforts by the
government to help families of the victims, opposition papers lashed out at the
government.
"Put
those responsible on trial whoever they are," wrote Al-Wafd opposition
paper in a front-page editorial. "This is more than gross negligence. We
need to know who was responsible and hang them in public squares and curse them
for what they have done to the helpless Egyptian people."
The
government announced compensation of 3,000 Egyptian pounds (about $665) for
families of the dead and 1,000 pounds ($222) for the injured, but that did not
amount to an admission of responsibility.
The
accident was the deadliest in more than 150 years of Egyptian railroad history
and one of the worst train fires anywhere in the world. 
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