Egypt when a train ploughed into a truck and a mini-
bus at a railway crossing early Monday, the health
ministry said.
Another 28 people were injured in the accident,
which happened south of Cairo.
Local police chief Kamal al-Dali told state television
the mini-bus had been carrying guests home from a
wedding.
The head of the Egyptian Railway Authority said the
drivers of the vehicles had ignored warning lights
and chains blocking entry to the crossing, and tried
to go across the tracks.
"The bus stormed the crossing, according to initial
reports," Hussein Zakaria told state television.
"The crossing was closed with chains, (and) there
were warning lights," he said.
The train, whose driver survived the crash,
continued for almost one kilometre (0.6 miles)
before coming to a halt, he said.
Egypt's rail network has a poor safety record
stemming largely from lack of maintenance and
poor management.
In January, 17 people died when a train transporting
conscripts derailed, and in November 2012, 47
school children were killed when a train crashed
into their bus.
Both the transport minister and the railway
authority head were forced to resign as a result of
that accident, which was blamed on a train signal
operator who fell asleep on the job.
The government formed a panel to investigate, but
as with similar tragedies in the past, it did little to
shed light on the details and less still to bring about
accountability.
In Egypt's deadliest railway tragedy, the bodies of
more than 360 passengers were recovered from a
train after a fire in 2002.
Egyptians have long complained that the
government has failed to deal with chronic transport
problems, with roads as poorly maintained as
railway lines.
Monday's accident took place days after train
services resumed completely across the country,
after they were halted due to unrest following the
overthrow of president Mohamed.
Source: Vanguard
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