CAIRO: Eight Egyptian railway workers will go on trial facing charges of negligence and involuntary manslaughter over the Al-Ayyat train crash last month, according to local news reports.
The workers going on trial include two train conductors and three signalmen.
All eight suspects have been charged with resulting in the “death of 18 people due to negligence, a source said.
The train crash, which claimed the lives of 18 people and injured 36, led to the resignation of Minister of Transportation Mohamed Lotfy Mansour.
On Oct. 24, two trains collided near the village of Girzah, in the area of Al-Ayyat about 40 km south of Cairo, when one train stopped due to a water buffalo which wandered onto the tracks. The second train, heading from Cairo to Assiut, crashed into it from the rear.
The investigation carried out by the prosecutor’s office determined that the conductor of the first train also waited 20 minutes before alerting rail authorities that he had made an unscheduled halt. -Additional reporting by AFP.
