Egyptian trail ‘hell’ fire kills at least 342
At least 342 people died today when an overcrowded Egyptian train caught fire and carried on speeding down the line.
More than 100 people were still feared to be trapped on board, police said.
Rescuers found carriages burned right through to their steel structures. One police officer described the scene as ‘‘hell.’’
Egypt’s Middle East New Agency said the cause of the fire was a burst gas cylinder using for cooking in the train’s buffet car. Thirty ambulances and 25 fire trucks from Cairo were dispatched to the scene.
Police said the fire broke out at about 2am in one of the 11 carriages of the morning train from Cairo to Luxor, about 300 miles to the south.
Each carriage designed to carry around 150 passengers was packed with about 300 travellers, police said, meaning more than 3,000 people were on board.
Several other carriages caught fire and the train travelled in flames for four miles before finally stopping near Ayyat, 46 miles south of the capital.
Said Fuad Amin, a 22-year-old construction worker, jumped from the burning train, breaking his hand.
He said the train was so full he and six friends had to sit on the floor. The first sign of trouble, he said, were shouts and screams, and he first thought there was a fight on board.
Then he saw flames and people running, including a women whose clothes were on fire. ‘‘People were running like crazy,’’ he said, his voice weak.
Amin ran, too, until he found a window broken open. He hesitated at first because the train was moving fast.
‘‘I thought I was going to die anyway, so I jumped,’’ he said. It was the last thing he remembered before waking up in the hospital.
He said he did not know what happened to friends with whom he travelling.
Adel Hassan Fadlallah, a 21-year-old laundry worker being treated at Ayyat Hospital, recalled his car filling quickly with smoke. Panicked passengers tried to run but stumbled into each other. He also jumped from a window and suffered wounds to his head and hands.
Some people were killed as they jumped from the burning, speeding train. Other bodies were pulled from the carriages.
Mosques were opened to the rescued and villagers supplied blankets, food and hot drinks to the stranded passengers.
Many of the passengers were going home for Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, a four day holiday that starts on Friday.
