At least 47 nursery schoolchildren were killed on Saturday when a train smashed into their bus in central Egypt after a railway signal operator fell asleep, officials said, prompting protests and resignations. Transport Minister Rashad al-Metini stepped down after the tragedy, which also killed the bus driver and his assistant, saying he “accepts responsibility”. President Mohamed Morsy also accepted the Egyptian Railway Authority head’s resignation.
“There are now 49 deaths and 18 injuries”, with almost all of the casualties children, Assiut provincial Governor Yehya Keshk told state television. “There is a team of 45 doctors looking after the injured children.”
The bus taking about 60 children aged between four and six on a school trip organised by their nursery was struck on a railway crossing in Manfalut, 356 km south of Cairo, police said.
The worker manning the level crossing — which had been left open — was asleep when the bus tried to cross the tracks, Mr. Keshk said. “He has been arrested of course.”
Samir said the bodies of many of those killed were severely mutilated, illustrating the force of the crash.
Witness Ahmed Youssef said he saw the train push the bus along the tracks for nearly half a mile.
The bus was broken in half by the force of the collision.
Books, school bags and socks were strewn along the tracks near the mangled bus. Parents of the missing wailed as they looked for signs of their children.
Parents of the children were staging angry demonstrations near the scene of the horrific accident, demanding the death penalty for those responsible, police said.
A state television correspondent described the scene as “terrifying” with the blood-splattered bodies of children on the ground, before they were taken to nearby Manfalut hospital
Families of the victims joined the search for survivors and bodies. Witnesses at the scene said many of the remains were unrecognisable.
One man picked up a body, screaming: "Only God can help."
Officials said the level of destruction and mutilation made it difficult to count and identify the bodies.
Victims' families protested at the scene, while officials sought to reassure them the case would be investigated. President Mohammed Mursi ordered his ministers to offer support.
Prime Minister Hisham Kandil ordered an investigation into anyone responsible for the crash, and travelled to the scene.
Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record and Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce even basic safeguards, leading to a string of deadly crashes.
An estimated 8000 people die in car accidents each year in the country.
Egypt's worst train disaster was in 2002 when a fire ripped through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train, killing at least 360 people.
Many more have been killed in rail accidents since then despite pledges from successive governments to improve safety.
Accidents blamed on negligence occurred regularly during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted as president last year after a popular uprising.
This latest accident is the worst such tragedy since Mursi took power this summer.
Sunday 18 November 2012
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/47-children-die-in-egypt-crash/article4107321.ece