4 detained following deadly Egypt train crash

Four people have been detained for 15 days over their alleged role in a deadly train crash last week near the Egyptian city of Alexandria that killed 43 people and injured dozens more, judicial officials confirmed.

The crash took place when a train coming from Cairo crashed into the rear of another stationary train that had come from Port Said and was waiting in the district of Khorshid, just east of Alexandria.

The four men who were arrested were: the two train drivers, the Cairo train’s assistant and an observation tower. They have all been accused of manslaughter and negligence as an investigation is underway.

Read: 28 killed in Egypt train crash, 80 injured

Authorities requested blood and urine samples from the Cairo train driver to test him for drugs. According to the news agency MENA, the public prosecutor also ordered the chairman of Egypt’s Railway Authority and nine other officials to be summoned for interrogation over the accident.

Transport Minister Hesham Arafat met with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Saturday and blamed the accident on human error, Egypt’s heavy reliance on manual operations and the railway system’s poorly maintained infrastructure.

Some 1,249 train accidents were recorded in Egypt last year, the highest number recorded in seven years. Fifty-one people were killed in 2006 when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.