According to preliminary information, the train left the depot and was travelling at a high speed when it slammed into a covered platform. The collision caused a fiery explosion; the inferno spread to one of the buildings at Ramses Station.
Egypt’s Transportation Minister Hisham Arafat resigned on Wednesday following a major fire at the Ramses railway station, the Al-Ahram news outlet reported.
According to Al-Ahram, Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has already accepted Arafat's resignation.
تكدسات مرورية بشارع رمسيس بسبب نشوب حريق في محطة مصرhttps://t.co/LcTOXyIamN pic.twitter.com/wETgVAai2I
— بوابة أخبار اليوم (@akhbarelyom) February 27, 2019
28 people were killed and more than 50 injured in a Cairo train fire, according to a source in Egypt's Health Ministry. The state TV reported that 20 people have been killed and 40 others wounded. The death toll could be much higher. According to other sources the death toll may be less.
Preliminary data suggests that the engineer of the train that caught fire at the central Ramses Station in Cairo might have lost control of the machine, resulting in it colliding with some kind of barrier, and killing and injuring dozens, a source in the Egyptian Transport Ministry told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"As a result [of the collision], a fire started in the train, which immediately spread to the first wagon with a fuel pod and then to the passenger cars," the source said.
#عاجل
— جريدة كاظمة (@kathima) February 27, 2019
بالصور..قتلى وجرحى في حريق هائل نشب بمحطة القطارات الرئيسية في القاهرة #مصر#القاهرة#محطة_القطارات#حريق pic.twitter.com/lPyKnjsP2d
The fire spread through Cairo's central railway station.
People reportedly suffered carbon monoxide poisoning as they couldn't leave the platform and the station during the panic.
Security officials have partially closed the entrances of the train station, according to Ahram Online news portal.
Ambulances and firefighters are at the scene.
The central train station in Cairo has been evacuated, the rail services near the station have been temporarily suspended.
