CAIRO: The trial of eight railway workers allegedly responsible for Al-Ayyat train accident last month is scheduled to resume on Dec.7 based on their defense committee’s request.
The railway workers include two train conductors and three signalmen. They are facing charges of negligence and involuntary manslaughter.
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, rear-ended it.
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.
