CAIRO — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak vowed Friday to uncover the cause of a train inferno which killed at least 361 people in Egypt’s worst rail disaster and to hold accountable anyone responsible, according to a wire service.
Fire ripped through seven carriages of a slow-moving passenger train Wednesday in the worst accident in 150 years of Egyptian rail history.
The train rolled on, ablaze, for several kilometers after the fire broke out, the wind fanning the flames.
“I will not allow any effort to hide the truth or cover up any aspect of what happened, because the calamity is great, the accident grave,” Mubarak said on state television.
“We have ordered competent authorities to conduct a complete investigation to clearly determine responsibility and to hold accountable anyone proved to have fallen short in their duties or who were careless in providing safety,” he said.
Travelers jumped from windows and doors to escape the inferno near al-Ayatt, about 45 miles south of the capital. Others died trapped behind window grilles.
Initial investigations said portable gas stoves Egyptians often use to brew tea and coffee on trains could have caused the fire.
But the public prosecutor’s office told state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) survivors and witnesses had also suggested a short circuit might be to blame.
Mubarak has accepted the resignation of Transport Minister Ibrahim Demiri, who was in Canada at the time of the fire, MENA reported Friday.
Prime Minister Atef Obeid had also accepted the resignation of the head of the state railway system, it said.
IDENTIFYING DEAD
Families started the grim process of identifying the bodies Thursday, many of which were charred beyond recognition.
A senior state coroner told MENA that unidentified remains would be buried in a mass grave. Another source said they would be buried Saturday.
The train was crowded with Egyptians returning home to the countryside to spend the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday with their families.
Security sources said authorities would examine whether necessary safety precautions had been in place. Officials have defended the state railways, saying the train met technical requirements.
But opposition groups like the banned Muslim Brotherhood blamed the tragedy on what they said was gross negligence.