Egypt: a social and political tinderbox

At least 58 people were killed and 143 injured in the crash that occurred when a stationary train at Qalyoub station was hit by another travelling at 50 miles an hour, which caught fire after derailing. There were long delays before the emergency services arrived.

If the response of the ambulance and fire services was slow, that of the security forces was not. The government despatched 15 trucks of riot police to the scene in anticipation of the protests and riots by furious passengers and relatives that have erupted at other such disasters. At one point, an angry crowd began accusing the government of negligence and corruption.

The transport minister, Mohammed Mansour, immediately sacked the railways chief executive, suspended his deputy, and announced US$860 million worth of investment in the railways plus another US$600 million in loans and an inquiry into the cause of the crash, in an attempt to deflect criticisms from the government.

Underfunding and privatisation

The August 21 train crash may have been accidental, but it was neither unexpected nor without cause. Egypt’s transport infrastructure is dilapidated, horrendously overcrowded and dangerously unsafe after decades of underinvestment. Signalling systems, which lay at the heart of this accident, are out of date. Third-class carriages are so overcrowded that some passengers even travel in the overhead luggage compartments.

There have been three major train crashes since February. The same month, a ferry sank in the Red Sea killing about 1,000 people in one of the worst accidents at sea in recent years. According to a parliamentary investigation, this was the direct result of flouting the most basic safety precautions and official corruption reaching up to the highest levels. The owner of the ship, Mamdouh Ismail, a government-appointed member of the upper house and the ruling national Democratic party of President Hosni Mubarak, fled the country to escape prosecution. He reportedly had the assistance of top officials concerned that a trial would lead to politically damaging revelations of Ismail’s operations and his high-level connections.

By far, the worst rail accident took place just a week earlier when a train caught fire killing at least 373 people because there were no emergency exits in the third-class compartments. Carriages built to take 150 people were holding 300 at the time of the fire.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/egyp-a30.shtml