On 26 March 2021, two trains collided in the

Tahta Tahta ( ar, طهطا / , ALA-LC: ''Ṭahṭā''; ; , ) is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in an area known for its agricultural richness. Tahta had a population of 85,528 in the 2017 ce ...

district of the Sohag Governorate in Egypt. Eighteen people were killed and at least 200 others were injured. The incident was initiated by an unidentified person or persons intentionally triggering the emergency brakes on the leading train which was then hit by the following train.

Background

Egypt's railways have a record of poor equipment maintenance, neglect, and bad management. The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

records nearly 11,000 accidents on rail lines between 2008 and 2017, including a high of 1,793 in 2017. In 2018,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...

stated that the country's government lacked the 250 billion EGP (14 billion USD) in funds required to address all the problems within the rail system.

Incident

The collision occurred in the

district of the Sohag Governorate, approximately south of the capital city of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. The Egyptian Ministry of Transportation has said passengers in the front train, heading from

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, pulled the emergency brakes while in transit between the stations of El Maragha and

. This caused the train to come to a stop, where it was then hit from behind by a second train that was heading from Aswan to

, which destroyed two carriages and caused a third to overturn. Initial death tolls were given at 32, which was revised down to 19 and later to 18.

Response

Seventy-four ambulances were dispatched to treat passengers.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Mostafa Madbouly Mostafa Kamal Madbouly ( ar, مصطفى كمال مدبولي; born 28 April 1966) is the Prime Minister of Egypt, serving since 2018. He was appointed by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to succeed Sherif Ismail following his government's resignat ...

announced that the families of victims killed in the crash would be given compensation of 100,000 EGP ( USD) and lifetime pensions.

Investigation

On 11 April 2021, Egypt's prosecution service declared that nobody was at the controls of one of the trains when they both collided. In addition, one of the train drivers had deactivated the automatic train control system (ATC) in order to move faster, while an assistant of the stationary train was under the influence of

tramadol Tramadol, sold under the brand name Ultram among others, is an opioid pain medication used to treat moderate to moderately severe pain. When taken by mouth in an immediate-release formulation, the onset of pain relief usually begins within an h ...

, and a control tower guard had used

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

References

External links