Rail

Citation

(2003), "Rail", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 12 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2003.07312aac.002

Rail

Rail

14 January 2002 – Sri Lanka

At least 13 people died in Sri Lanka when an express train was derailed on its way to Colombo. More than 100 others were injured in the accident, which happened near Rambukkana. Those most seriously hurt have been taken to hospital in Colombo, around80km away. Police said an investigation had begun.

6 February 2002 – Charlotte's Dale, South Africa

A total of 22 people have been killed, 16 of them school children, when a packed passenger train crashed into a stationary freight train in eastern South Africa. The crash occurred at Charlotte's Dale, some 70 kilometres north of the Indian Ocean port city of Durban around 1600, local time, yesterday. "At the moment the death toll has risen to 22, we had 16 school children who died in the accident and six adults", a police spokesman told the South African Broadcasting Corporation. "The injured were a total of 117 of whom 81 were slight injuries and 36 were seriously injured", he said. The passenger train was mainly carrying school children, he said. Nom sa Sithole, a spokeswoman for the Metrorail passenger service, confirmed the death toll and said 10 of the injured were in a critical condition. "Rescuers have freed everybody from the wreckage according to the latest report I have", she said. "Investigations are underway into the cause of the accident and we will make them known once the investigation has been completed." Emergency and rescue personnel were rushed to the scene to help free people trapped in the train's mangled carriages. The injured were rushed to local hospitals after six of the passenger train's coaches derailed when it hit the goods train. The passenger train and the freight train were both en route to Durban.

20 February 2002 – Cairo area, Egypt

Up to 20 people have died in a fire which broke out overnight on a passenger train south of Cairo, Egyptian police say. Many of the bodies found by rescuers had been badly charred, an ambulance official told Reuters. The fire has now been put out, and rescuers are combing the wreckage for more bodies. Dozens of wounded have been taken to hospital. Seven carriages of the crowded train, which was travelling from Cairo to Upper Egypt, went up in flames about 40 kilometres south of the capital in Giza Governorate. Desperate passengers are reported to have jumped out of windows and doors as the train was moving in order to escape the flames and smoke. The dead are all believed to be Egyptians.

20 February 2002 – A passenger train crowded with Egyptians caught fire as it headed south early today, killing at least 100 people and trapping another 100, police said. Some died as they jumped from the burning, moving train. The death toll rose as rescuers searched charred train cars today hours after the fire broke out. Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported the cause of the fire was a burst gas cylinder used for cooking in the train cafe. Police said the fire broke out at 0200 hrs in one of the 11 cars of the morning train from Cairo to Luxor, about 300 miles south. Several other cars caught fire and the train travelled in flames for four miles before finally stopping at Ayyat, 46 miles south of Cairo. Rescuers battled flames this morning. Between 100 and 150 people were believed trapped on the train, police said. In addition to the dead, 65 people were being treated for injuries, police said. Some people were killed as they jumped from the burning, moving train. Other bodies were recovered inside the train. Police and villagers aiding in the search found cars burned to their steel structures. "Some 30 ambulances and 25 fire trucks from Cairo were dispatched to the scene, MENA said. Mosques were opened to the rescued and villagers supplied blankets, food and hot drinks to the stranded passengers. The rail line linking Cairo with southern Egypt was closed indefinitely. Each car designed to accommodate about 150 passengers was crammed with some 300 passengers. Many of the passengers were travelling to their home villages to spend the upcoming holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the "Feast of the Sacrifice".

20 February 2002-10-13 – A train crowded with Egyptians leaving the capital for a holiday weekend caught fire and sped on in flames for miles today, killing 372 people, police said. The death toll from the train accident, which officials called the worst in decades, was expected to climb to more than 400 as police and recovery workers searched through charred train cars, said civil defence official Lt. Amin Karam.

25 February 2002 – An electrical short-circuit sparked the fire last week which engulfed an Egyptian train and led to the death of 373 people, a government newspaper reported yesterday, quoting a commission of inquiry. Quoting a police source close to the inquiry, the daily Al-Ahram said the theory that a cooking stove in one of the carriages had sparked the blaze was virtually ruled out.Al-Akhbar said the commission had confirmed that the ageing train's carriages were not equipped with fire alarms, fire extinguishers or emergency brakes. The panel, tasked by chief prosecutor Maher Abdel Wahed with investigating the causes of the disaster, also noted that there were no emergency windows. Most of those who died in the disaster burned to death, trapped in over-packed carriages on the southbound train from Cairo last Wednesday (20 February). Others died after managing to escape through barred windows and jammed doors and jumping off the moving train, though some survived the jump.

26 February 2002 – Flames from a small stove started the fire in an overcrowded train car that killed 363 people in Egypt's worst train disaster, investigators have concluded. Investigators found several small stoves amid the charred debris of the two train cars that suffered the worst damage in last week's fire, reports in several Egyptian newspapers today said. Passengers often carry such stoves to heat food and water for tea and coffee, despite regulations banning stoves and gas cylinders to fuel from trains. Egyptian newspapers said details of a technical report on the causes of the fire had been provided by members of the investigation committee and officials in the office of the prosecutor general, who is overseeing the probe. Officials contacted by The Associated Press today could provide no details, saying the report had not yet been officially handed over to the prosecutor general. The pro-government newspaper Al-Akhbar said the report, prepared by a committee of top experts and prosecutors, rebutted an earlier theory that the fire might have been caused by an electrical short circuit. The investigation showed two cars caught fire while the train was moving while another five cars caught fire after the train stopped. Most of the passengers on the last five cars to catch fire escaped, investigators said. The wood and other materials used in the cars, together with wind created by the rushing train, helped spread the fire, investigators said. The train's crew had said overcrowding had made it difficult to respond to the fire. Eid Abdel-Qader, new director of the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority, told Al-Akhbar newspaper that overcrowding cannot be controlled.

23 March 2002 – A total of 11 Railway Authority workers have been charged with gross negligence for a train fire that killed 361 people in Egypt's worst train disaster, authorities announced today. The workers allegedly failed to ensure the train was equipped with functioning fire extinguishers, allowed too many passengers on board and did not apply the train's brakes as it travelled for 15 minutes in flames, Egyptian Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahed told a news conference. Those charged include the train's chief mechanical engineer, maintenance staff and fire safety officers, Abdel Wahed said. The engineer and his deputy were also charged with falsely stating that the train was properly equipped before it began its 20’February run from Cairo to the southern city of Luxor. The train was crowded with people heading home for a holiday weekend. Some passengers jumped to their deaths from the speeding cars and hundreds were trapped inside as the train travelled in flames for several miles before the driver stopped. Investigators have said that flames from a small stove started the fire in one of the carriages, which spread to other cars. Probes into the accident resulted in the resignation of the transport minister and head of the authority.