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At least 25 killed as train crashes in Cairo station, erupting in ball of flames

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a fireball ripped through Egypt’s Ramses Station as a highspeed train smashed into a metal barrier killing at least 25 people and injuring 50 on Wednesday. (AFP)
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Security forces and onlookers gather at the scene of a fiery train crash at the Egyptian capital Cairo's main railway station on February 27, 2019. (AFP)
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Fire fighters and onlookers gather at the scene of a fiery train crash at the Egyptian capital Cairo's main railway station on February 27, 2019. (AFP)
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Fire fighters and onlookers gather at the scene of a fiery train crash at the Egyptian capital Cairo's main railway station on February 27, 2019. (AFP)
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a fireball ripped through Egypt’s Ramses Station as a highspeed train smashed into a metal barrier killing at least 25 people and injuring 50 on Wednesday. (AFP)
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a fireball ripped through Egypt’s Ramses Station as a highspeed train smashed into a metal barrier killing at least 25 people and injuring 50 on Wednesday. (AFP)
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a fireball ripped through Egypt’s Ramses Station as a highspeed train smashed into a metal barrier killing at least 25 people and injuring 50 on Wednesday. (AFP)
Updated 28 February 2019
Arab News
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At least 25 killed as train crashes in Cairo station, erupting in ball of flames

  • 50 people were also reported to be injured
  • There was a blast when a train rammed into a steel barrier at Ramses station
Updated 28 February 2019
Arab News

CAIRO: A deadly train crash which killed at least 25 people and injured dozens more was caused by a driver leaving his vehicle unattended without turning off its engine to speak with the driver of another train, according to Egypt's prosecutor-general.

Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek issued a statement revealing the preliminary results of an investigation into the crash, saying the train involved in the deadly collision had been on its way to a train yard when it was struck by another locomotive on an adjacent train line.

The driver of the first train left it unattended without turning off its engine to speak with the other driver, who was already working on disengaging his train from another locomotive.

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READ MORE: Egypt’s deadly record of train accidents

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When the two trains disengaged, the now-unmanned train moved at high speed towards the railway station until it collided with a concrete barrier at the end of the train line and burst into flames.

The prosecution has tasked forensic experts with using DNA tests to identify the charred remains of the victims.

"The driver left the railcar without taking any measures to brake it," Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek said in a statement.

Health officials say at least 25 people were killed and dozens more injured in the crash and ensuing fire.

The moment a fireball ripped through Egypt’s Ramses Station as a highspeed train smashed into a metal barrier killing at least 20 people and injuring 50 on Wednesday was captured on video.

In a video released on social media commuters can be seen walking around and then moments later people are seen running for their lives as the ball of flames erupts through the air.

In a section of the video that Arab News deemed too distressing to show, a woman can be seen fleeing, her clothes and hair on fire – it is not know what happened to her.

Dozens of people were injured when the train smashed into a steel barrier, erupting into a ball of flames at Ramses station in central Cairo. Egypt's health ministry said the number killed was 20 but Associated Press reported that the death toll was at least 25.

Egypt’s Minister of Transport, Hesham Arafat resigned later the same day.

Social media footage showed images of people fleeing and what appeared to be burnt corpses strewn across the platform and railway track below.

Thick black smoke could be seen rising high above the area as the flames engulfed the station platform.

 

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly arrived at the scene and pledged in a statement to reporters to investigate and hold those responsible for any negligence to account. 

The transportation minister and governor of Cairo were also at the scene. 

Railway operations were immediately stopped after the incident but returned to full operation at 10:42 a.m. (GMT).

Dozens of people are being treated in hospital

Security sources said there was no indication that the crash was deliberate.

Eyewitness Ibrahim Hussein said: "I saw a man pointing from the locomotive as it entered the platform, and screaming 'There are no brakes, there are no brakes’ before he jumped out of the locomotive. And I don’t know what happened to him."

Bystander Mina Ghaly added: "I was standing on the platform and I saw the train speed into the barrier ... Everyone started running but a lot of people died after the locomotive exploded.

"I saw at least nine corpses lying on the ground, charred."

Ahmed Abdeltawab said the platform had been crowded with people waiting for another train.

"The fire overwhelmed them and they ran while they were on fire until they fell metres from incident," he said. "The scene was terrifying."

Several witnesses said they had seen fire coming out of the train's engine before it crashed, causing an explosion and fires inside the station.

Student Ali Ramadan said he had suffered burns and injured his foot when he ran into a concrete bench on the crowded platform

"I don't know when these train accidents will end ... They told us they got millions of dollars' worth of new locomotives and trains, and people are still dying because of train accidents."

(With Reuters)

Topics: Egypt

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Ships from Turkiye planning to deliver aid to Gaza were denied right to sail

Updated 21 min 26 sec ago
AP
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Ships from Turkiye planning to deliver aid to Gaza were denied right to sail

  • The Freedom Flotilla Coalition described the cancelation of the vessels’ registry as a “blatantly political move,” adding: “Without a flag, we cannot sail”
  • The organizers blamed Israel for applying pressure to prevent the flotilla
Updated 21 min 26 sec ago
AP

ISTANBUL: A three-ship flotilla planning to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid from Turkiye was prevented from sailing by Guinea-Bissau authorities, which took down their country’s flags from two ships, organizers said.
Just before the flotilla was set to sail from Turkiye to Gaza on Friday with 5,000 tons of aid, a surprise inspection by the Guinea-Bissau International Ships Registry resulted in the removal of the flags from two of the Freedom Flotilla ships.
A press release by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition described the cancelation of the vessels’ registry as a “blatantly political move,” adding: “Without a flag, we cannot sail.”
The organizers blamed Israel for applying pressure to prevent the flotilla. “It is obvious, and I think it is publicly known, that there has been close contact between Israel and the president of Guinea-Bissau,” organizer and steering committee member Torstein Dahle told The Associated Press, without elaborating.
He said that hundreds of Turkish and international participants were disappointed by the cancelation. “It is very hard for us, because it takes time to procure a flag. It’s a procedure that can’t be done in a few days. ... But we’re not giving up.”
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition includes Turkish and international organizations, among them the IHH and the Mavi Marmara Association from Turkiye, which also organized an ill-fated 2010 flotilla.
On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara in international waters, leading to an altercation that left nine people dead and dozens of activists wounded. On the Israeli side, seven soldiers were wounded by activists who attacked them with clubs, knives and pipes.

Topics: War on Gaza humanitarian aid Turkiye Freedom Flotilla

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Lebanon moves toward accepting ICC jurisdiction for war crimes on its soil

Updated 27 April 2024
Reuters
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Lebanon moves toward accepting ICC jurisdiction for war crimes on its soil

  • Neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC
  • Filing a declaration to the court would grant it jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute relevant crimes in a particular period
Updated 27 April 2024
Reuters

BEIRUT: Lebanon has moved toward accepting the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction to prosecute violations on Lebanese territory since October, in what Human Rights Watch said on Saturday was a “landmark step” toward justice for war crimes.
Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating its sovereignty and committing breaches of international law over the last six months, during which the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have traded fire across Lebanon’s southern border in parallel with the Gaza War.
That cross-border shelling has killed at least 70 civilians, including children, rescue workers and journalists, among them Reuters visuals reporter Issam Abdallah, who was killed by an Israeli tank on Oct. 13, a Reuters investigation found.
Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet voted on Friday to instruct the foreign affairs ministry to file a declaration with the ICC accepting the court’s jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes committed on Lebanese territory since Oct. 7.
The decree also instructed the foreign ministry to include in its complaints about Israel to the United Nations a report prepared by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), an independent research institute.
That report looked specifically into Abdallah’s killing, and was produced by examining shrapnel, flak jackets, a camera, tripod and a large piece of metal that were gathered by Reuters from the scene, as well as video and audio material.
Neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC, which is based in The Hague. But filing a declaration to the court would grant it jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute relevant crimes in a particular period.
Ukraine has twice filed such declarations, which allowed for the court to investigate alleged Russian war crimes.
“The Lebanese government has taken a landmark step toward securing justice for war crimes in the country,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, urging the foreign minister to “swiftly” formalize the move by filing a declaration to the ICC.
“This is an important reminder to those who flout their obligations under the laws of war that they may find themselves in the dock,” Fakih said.

Topics: War on Gaza International Criminal Court (ICC) Lebanon Israel war crimes

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British troops may be tasked with delivering Gaza aid, BBC report says

Updated 27 April 2024
AP
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British troops may be tasked with delivering Gaza aid, BBC report says

  • Britain is already providing logistical support for construction of US pier, including a Royal Navy ship that will house hundreds of American soldiers
Updated 27 April 2024
AP

LONDON: British troops may be tasked with delivering aid to Gaza from an offshore pier now under construction by the US military, the BBC reported Saturday. UK government officials declined to comment on the report.
According to the BBC, the British government is considering deploying troops to drive the trucks that will carry aid from the pier along a floating causeway to the shore. No decision has been made and the proposal hasn’t yet reached Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the BBC reported, citing unidentified government sources.
The report comes after a senior US military official said on Thursday that there would be no American “boots on the ground” and another nation would provide the personnel to drive the delivery trucks to the shore. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public, declined to identify the third party.
Britain is already providing logistical support for construction of the pier, including a Royal Navy ship that will house hundreds of US soldiers and sailors working on the project.
In addition, British military planners have been embedded at US Central Command in Florida and in Cyprus, where aid will be screened before shipment to Gaza, for several weeks, the UK Ministry of Defense said on Friday.
The UK Hydrographic Office has also shared analysis of the Gaza shoreline with the US to aid in construction of the pier.
“It is critical we establish more routes for vital humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza, and the UK continues to take a leading role in the delivery of support in coordination with the US and our international allies and partners,” Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.
Development of the port and pier in Gaza comes as Israel faces widespread international criticism over the slow trickle of aid into the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations says at least a quarter of the population sits on the brink of starvation.
The Israel-Hamas began with a Hamas-led attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people as hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground offensive, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, around two-thirds of them children and women.

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Palestine Gaza humanitarian aid UK

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Israeli soldiers kill two Palestinian gunmen in West Bank, military says

Updated 27 April 2024
Reuters
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Israeli soldiers kill two Palestinian gunmen in West Bank, military says

  • Violence has been on the rise as Israel presses its attacks and bombardment in Gaza
Updated 27 April 2024
Reuters

RAMALLAH, West Bank: Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian gunmen who opened fire at them from a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the military said on Saturday.
The military released a photo of two automatic rifles that it said were used by several gunmen to shoot at the soldiers, at an outpost near the flashpoint Palestinian city of Jenin.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said security officials confirmed two deaths and the health ministry said two other men were wounded.
There was no other immediate comment from Palestinian officials in the West Bank, where violence has been on the rise as Israel presses its war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. More than 34,000 Palestinians have since been killed and most of the population displaced.
Violence in the West Bank, which had already been on the rise before the war, has since flared with stepped up Israeli raids and Palestinian street attacks.
The West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel captured in the 1967 war, are among the territories which the Palestinians seek for a state. US-brokered peace talks collapsed a decade ago.

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Palestine West Bank

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Hamas says it received Israel’s response to its ceasefire proposal

Updated 27 April 2024
Reuters
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Hamas says it received Israel’s response to its ceasefire proposal

  • White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday he saw fresh momentum in talks to end the war and return the remaining hostages
  • Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory
Updated 27 April 2024
Reuters

CAIRO: Hamas said it had received on Saturday Israel’s official response to its latest ceasefire proposal and will study it before submitting its reply, the group’s deputy Gaza chief said in a statement.
“Hamas has received today the official response of the Zionist occupation to the proposal presented to the Egyptian and the Qatari mediators on April 13,” Khalil Al-Hayya, who is currently based in Qatar, said in a statement published by the group.
After more than six months of war with Israel in Gaza, the negotiations remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement must end the war.
An Egyptian delegation visited Israel for discussion with Israeli officials on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the conflict and return remaining hostages taken when Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns on Oct. 7, an official briefed on the meetings said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 hostages would be released by Hamas, instead of the 40 previously under discussion.
On Thursday, the United States and 17 other countries appealed to Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis.
Hamas has vowed not to relent to international pressure but in a statement it issued on Friday it said it was “open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of our people.”
However, it stuck to its key demands that Israel has rejected, and criticized the joint statement issued by the USand others for not calling for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday he saw fresh momentum in talks to end the war and return the remaining hostages.
Citing two Israeli officials, Axios reported that Israel told the Egyptian mediators on Friday that it was ready to give hostage negotiations “one last chance” to reach a deal with Hamas before moving forward with an invasion of Rafah, the last refuge for around a million Palestinians who fled Israeli forces further north in Gaza earlier in the war.
Meanwhile, in Rafah, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli air strike on a house killed at least five people and wounded others.
Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages. Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas in an onslaught that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.

 

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine Gaza US Hamas

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