POLITICS-EGYPT: Prime Minister Under Fire For Train Inferno

By Cam McGrath Reprint | | Print |

Cam McGrath

CAIRO, Mar 20 2002 (IPS) - Already in the hot seat for failing to remedy the ailing economy, Egyptian prime minister Atef Ebeid has been slammed for alleged negligence which, critics say, contributed to the country’s worst rail disaster in history.

At least 373 people were killed one month ago today when a third-class passenger train heading from Cairo to Aswan caught fire.

The train rolled on for several kilometres, with the wind fanning the flames, before the engineer realised it was ablaze. Most of the victims burned to death. Others leapt to their death to escape the flames.

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Ibrahim el-Demiri and Egyptian Railways Authority head Ahmed el-Sherif resigned in the wake of the disaster. Some say it is time for Ebeid to do the same.

“This is utterly irresponsible. This man (Ebeid) is sure to bear a large part of the blame for negligence in this authority,” independent MP Fayeka el-Rifai told the fact-finding committee investigating the accident.

He lashed out at the prime minister for mismanaging the administration of the national railway system and called for his immediate dismissal. Other independent and opposition MPs demanded that Ebeid’s entire cabinet step down.

The criticism has political overtones, countered MP Mohammed Aboul-Enein of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). He accused opposition members of attempting to use a national tragedy for their own purposes.

A three-year economic recession, chronic liquidity shortage and frequent reports of corruption have given the critics plenty of fodder. But the latest disaster has, in the eyes of the public, shown the real consequences of the government’s policies.

“The government doesn’t care about us. All it cares about is filling its own pockets,” said Mohammed Abdel Aziz, 25, an electrical engineer. “If innocent people die in the process then so be it.”

Years of mismanagement and neglect have taken a toll on Egypt’s railway network, particularly the third-class trains that serve 80 per cent of the country’s commuters.

Dilapidated carriages with broken doors and windows often have no lights, emergency brakes, fire extinguishers or first-aid kits. Designed to carry 100 passengers, conservative figures indicated that more than 300 people had crammed into each carriage of the train that caught fire.

Such overcrowding is routine, especially during peak hours and holidays. Railway officials claim there is nothing they can do to prevent it.

“There is no law that allows the authority to prevent any passenger from getting into the car; everyone has the right to board and we cannot object to that,” pro-government Al-Akhbar newspaper quoted a top railway official as saying.

On his part, Ebeid defended the administration of Egypt’s national railway system and his own handling of the disaster. Speaking just hours after the accident, he denied that safety lapses played a factor in the disaster.

“There was no problem concerning the train itself or security or fire fighting measures,” he told reporters. “All vehicles were submitted to security checks by the railroad authorities before the train’s departure.”

He went on to suggest that the fire started when a gas canister exploded, pointing out that passengers often bring butane cylinders on board to cook food and heat tea during the long journey despite rules forbidding their use. This explanation, whether true or not, largely exonerates the government from blame in the fire.

“Ebeid’s conclusion that the train had been in good shape before it embarked on its journey for Cairo to Aswan and that the fire was due to a butane cylinder is irresponsible,” independent MP Mohammed Ouda reportedly said.

While the deputy did not offer an alternative cause for the fire, the local press has been rampant with rumours that the government is covering up findings that an electrical short circuit may have caused it.

The investigation team, which included 70 investigators and coroners, backed Ebeid’s assessment that an exploded gas cylinder caused the blaze.

State officials followed by declaring war on the “mafia” of vendors who sell food and drinks on trains, often brewing tea on portable butane stoves.

While state newspapers have devoted ample space to covering this crackdown, the public remains convinced that mismanagement and inadequate safety systems are the real threats to train passengers.

Their suspicions were confirmed when on March 8, just two weeks after the disastrous train fire, a Cairo-bound train slipped off the tracks, injuring thirteen passengers.

Officials blamed the accident on the driver’s unwarranted speeding, but the local press had a field day pointing out that the train was not equipped with basic safety systems that could have prevented the accident altogether.

Ebeid has promised to quickly deliver over 250 million Egyptian pounds (5.5 million U.S. dollars) to improve railway passenger carriages and safety systems.

The funds will assist new railway head Eid Abdel Qader in carrying out his proposed refurbishment plan, which aims at providing all trains with security and safety equipment by the end of the year.

Egyptians are skeptical. Two years ago, the government announced a similar scheme to upgrade the country’s aging railway system. Only 10 per cent of the plan was ever completed, Ebeid admitted before parliament, citing budget constraints and the railway’s 17 billion Egyptian pound ($3.8 billion U.S. dollar) debt.