19 Army Recruits Killed In Egypt’s Train Crash

19 Army recruits were killed and a further 107 people were injured when a military train crashed yesterday. The trained derailed in the Cairo suburb of Badrashin.

The train was 1328 conscripted soldiers from Assiut to a military camp in Cairo when two of the passenger cars derailed. The accident happed shortly after midnight. More than 60 ambulances were sent to the crash site.

The injured are being treated in various hospitals in Giza. The accident is one in a string of such tragedies in Egypt. 50 schoolchildren were killed when a train and bus collided in a November last year. Just one month before four people were killed when two trains collided.

A tweet from the Muslim Brotherhood, President Mohamed Morsi’s party, said: “sincere condolences go out to the families of the victims of the horrific train crash in Badrasheen, we pray for speedy recovery of the injured.”

Hamdi Qandil, a member of one of Egypt’s opposition parties, told the Al-Ahram Arabic news website: “The railway situation (in Egypt) has deteriorated to an extent that it cannot be fixed. The whole system needs to be changed.”