CAIRO, 22 February — Families of at least 380 people who died when fire ripped through a crowded train in Egypt began the grim task of identifying their loved ones. But most of the bodies were impossible to identify.
Relatives were allowed into a central Cairo morgue one or two at a time to try to identify the charred bodies from Wednesday’s disaster.
Ambulances waited outside to ferry identified corpses home. But the final resting place for many bodies, charred beyond recognition, may be an anonymous mass grave.“There are no lists of names. When I looked at the bodies in the morgue they were unrecognizable, all charred, most with no legs, no arms, no head,” said Abdel-Sabbour Gad Taher, who went there searching for his brother-in-law.
The train kept rolling for several kilometer after the fire broke out, the wind fanning the flames.
Officials have said passengers using a gas stove may have started the blaze.
Some travelers were trapped behind window grilles. Only a few managed to jump from windows and doors to escape the inferno near Al-Ayatt, about 70 km south of the capital Cairo. The exact death toll was still unclear. While Minister of Rural Development Mustafa Abdel Qader said the figure had reached 373, the prosecutor’s office in the district of Giza, where the accident occurred, said 361 had died.
The official MENA news agency said 170 bodies had been identified. Families have until tomorrow to inspect the bodies.
A senior state coroner told MENA that unidentified remains would be buried in a mass grave. Another source said they would be buried tomorrow.
The chief of Al-Azhar issued an Islamic ruling (fatwa) that the victims of the train accident should be considered martyrs and hence there is no need to wash their bodies before burial.
The Eid Al-Adha holiday, normally a joyous celebration, was shrouded in grief after the worst disaster in more than 150 years of Egyptian rail history. The train was carrying many people home to their families for Eid. Investigation into the accident resumed yesterday, while work in the rest of Egypt halted as scheduled for the holiday, which lasts several days.
Security sources said authorities would examine whether necessary safety precautions were in place. Officials have defended the state railways, saying the train met technical requirements.
Initial investigations cast suspicion on the portable gas stoves Egyptians often use to brew tea and coffee on board.
The public prosecutor’s office told MENA that survivors and witnesses had also suggested a short circuit might be to blame. Security sources said authorities would question the driver and safety and maintenance personnel, as well as employees who handled gas cylinders in the buffet car and elsewhere on the train.
The seven burned-out carriages were removed from the tracks to a nearby warehouse late on Wednesday and traffic on Egypt’s only rail link between Cairo and upper Egypt resumed.
All the dead were thought to be Egyptian. Witnesses said most were heading off to spend Eid with families.
Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal told MENA he would donate 10,000 Egyptian pounds to the family of each deceased passenger.
