Xi extends condolences to Egyptian president over fatal train crash

BEIJING－Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a message of condolence to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, over a train collision in the country on Friday in which at least 19 people died.

Xi said in the message that he was shocked to learn about the accident. On behalf of the Chinese government and people as well as in his own name, he expressed deep condolences over the victims, extended sincere sympathies to bereaved families and the injured, and wished the injured a quick recovery.

Egypt buried the dead from the accident on Saturday, and authorities revised the toll down to 19 from the initial tally of 32, while the number of injured rose from 165, Health Minister Hala Zayed said.

"After we honed in on the details of those killed and injured ... at this moment there are 185 injured and 19(dead)," Zayed said.

Surveillance camera footage of the accident showed a speeding train barreling into another as it rolled slowly down the tracks, sending a carriage hurtling into the air in a cloud of dust.

Most of those injured in the crash that occurred in the Tahta district of southern Sohag Province suffered fractures.

Sisi said those responsible for the crash, the latest in a series of rail accidents to plague Egypt, would be punished.

At the scene of the rail disaster, technicians worked through Friday evening to remove five dislocated and damaged carriages. By Saturday morning the crash area was cleared of twisted metal and debris. Rail traffic also resumed before the burials.

Authorities have opened an investigation into the crash.

The rail authority said one train hit the last carriage of the other, causing at least two carriages to overturn between the stations of Maragha and Tahta.

Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir, a former army general appointed by Sisi to lead the ministry, pointed to human error or intervention as playing a role in the country's rail accidents.

"We have a problem with the human element," he told a late-night Saturday talk show, pledging to automate Egypt's rail network by 2024.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said the government would give 100,000 Egyptian pounds (about $6,400) to each family who lost a loved one and between 20,000 pounds and 40,000 pounds to those injured.

Xinhua - Agencies