A collision between two passenger trains in central Egypt on Friday left at least 19 people dead and 185 injured, the Egyptian health ministry said.
Health Minister Hala Zayed told reporters on Saturday that the initial death toll of 32 in the crash had been revised down, while the number of injured rose to 165.
“After we looked into the details of those killed and injured…at this moment there are 185 injured and 19 bodies,” Zayed said.
What happened?
Three passenger cars were overturned in the collision. Videos from the scene showed people still trapped inside.
Dozens of ambulances rushed to the scene of the crash in Tahta district of Sohag province, about 460 kilometers (285 miles) south of the capital, Cairo.
Egypt’s railway authority said the accident was caused by an unknown person applying the emergency brakes on the first train, which was then hit by the following train, causing two carriages to derail.
“The trains collided while traveling at not very high speeds, resulting in the destruction of two carriages and the overturning of a third,” a security source told Reuters.
“The [railway] The service has been neglected for decades to such an extent that it has become obsolete and extremely dangerous,” Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly told reporters after arriving at the scene.
“We have spent billions upgrading the railway, but we still have a long way to go to complete all the work required.”
The Egyptian History of Fatal Train Crashes
Egypt has a history of train accidents caused by poorly maintained equipment and poor management. Official figures show 1,793 rail accidents in 2017.
One such accident claimed 43 lives when two trains collided near the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.
More than 300 people were killed in Egypt’s deadliest train crash when a high-speed train caught fire in 2003.
In 2018, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi said the government needed about 250 billion Egyptian pounds ($14.1 billion, 11.97 billion euros) to update the dilapidated railway system from the country.
Egypt has one of the oldest and largest railway networks in Africa.
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
Container ship still housed in the canal
Efforts to dislodge the Ever Given, a 400-metre (1,300ft) container ship that has blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal since Tuesday, continue as excavators remove sand and mud from the ship’s bow while tugs attempt to move it. Japanese owner Shoei Kisen apologized and said the job was “extremely difficult”.
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
Could take weeks to bail out
Dislodging the ship is expected to take about a week or more, as reported by the Bloomberg news agency on Friday. The Suez Canal Authority, which operates the waterway, did not provide an update on when the canal will be navigable again. The container ship, which sails under the Panamanian flag, is stuck diagonally on the vital transport link.
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
Hundreds of ships waiting
The economic fallout began as soon as the Ever Given ran aground, with the price of crude oil fluctuating wildly. At least 200 ships are safeguarded at both ends of the canal – at Port Said on the Mediterranean and at Suez on the Red Sea – as well as in the canal itself, according to Lloyd’s List, a data analyst specializing in container traffic .
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
The Suez Canal (usually) saves ships time
The Suez Canal, which separates the African continent from the Middle East and Asia, is one of the busiest trade routes in the world, handling approximately 12% of all global trade. The passage saves ships some 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) of travel compared to the route around the southern tip of Africa.
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
10 billion dollars of goods are blocked
In addition to oil, consumer goods such as clothing, furniture, and auto parts are transported through the canal. Richard Meade of Lloyd’s List wrote on Twitter that westbound traffic was estimated at around $5.1 billion (4.3 billion euros) per day. Eastbound traffic is worth some $4.5 billion. This means that around $10 billion worth of goods are now stuck.
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
Russia, Saudi Arabia particularly affected
“Every port in Western Europe will feel the effects,” said a spokesman for the Dutch port of Rotterdam, the largest in the EU. Russia and Saudi Arabia, which send the most oil through the canal, are likely to be particularly affected. According to Vortexa analysts, India and China are the biggest importers of oil using the channel. The blockade also risks being costly for the German economy.
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
Worst case scenario: Sinking the containers
The Ever Given is one of the largest freighters in the world. If it proves impossible to refloat the boat, some of its cargo may have to be destroyed. According to Bloomberg, this could mean removing the containers from the ship and possibly sinking them.
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Suez Canal: 10 billion dollars of goods blocked in the waterway
More than 50 ships per day
According to the Suez Canal Authority, 19,000 ships passed through the canal in 2020, or more than 50 per day. Container ships account for around 26% of all traffic on the canal, which is dominated by tankers. In 2019, a total of 600 million tons of goods were transported through the Egyptian waterway.
Author: Diana Hodali
ab, jsi/msh (Reuters, dpa, AFP, AP)
