Second Rail Crash in 3 Days in Egypt Kills 4

Four people were killed in the Giza district of Cairo on Wednesday when a train smashed into a taxi at the Ard el-Lawa crossing level crossing. The dead are all thought to have been passengers of the taxi, including a woman and her baby girl.

Eye witnesses to the accident said the taxi driver refused to stop at barriers, which the attendant was attempting to close with a chain prior to the approach of the oncoming train. When the taxi was across the tracks, the taxi driver is reported to have opened his door and run from the vehicle, leaving his passengers inside.

Mohamed Sultan, head of the Egyptian Ambulance Authority, said the bodies of the victims were transferred to the Imbaba Hospital morgue after the tragedy.

Following clean-up at the site, Ard el-Lawa residents blockaded the line, bringing further train services to a stand-still. They blame the government for not heeding complaints filed by the crossing’s watchmen about inadequate systems of warning. Often, they claim, warnings are delivered to watchmen’s personal cell phones, only minutes before the arrival of a train, leaving insufficient time for barriers to be closed safely.

Ard el-Lawa watchmen staged a sit-in in December protesting against poor safety at the crossing.