CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak accepted the resignation of Transportation Minister Mohamed Lotfy Mansour on Monday, a representative from the President’s office said.
Mansour took full responsibility for the Al-Ayyat train crash last Saturday that claimed 18 lives and injured 36 people.
Minister of Electricity, Hassan Younis, was assigned to temporarily supervise the Ministry of Transportation.
“Up until this moment we have no information except that the minister has resigned, there is still no news regarding who will be appointed instead, Hala Fawzy, official spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation, told Daily News Egypt shortly after the resignation was announced.
“We are not releasing any statements because any new information will be announced by the President’s office or the Cabinet of Ministers, she added.
The news came as a surprise to sources inside Mansour’s office. “No one knows anything yet.it just happened half an hour ago and it was very sudden, a source, who chose to remain anonymous, told Daily News Egypt.
The source added that they are not going to release any press statements since the President’s office has already announced the news, giving Mansour’s reason for the resignation.
Last Saturday 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.
On Sunday, however, Mansour had told “Al-Beit Beitak daily talk show that he does not intend to resign.
“I am responsible for the transportation system in Egypt and I will not step down from my position and relinquish my responsibility, he said.
The People’s Assembly’s transportation committee held an emergency meeting Monday, during which Presidential Chief of Staff Zakaria Azmy heavily criticized and held the government along with the PA responsible for the train crash, according to the official Egynews.net.
The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Transportation, Health, Local Development and Legal Affairs.
Mansour explained that the accident was a result of “human error and is not the responsibility of the entire transport system, adding that he has referred 34 officials from the National Railway Authority to an investigative committee.
On the other hand, Minister of Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils Mufid Shehab said that the government is equally responsible and that all parties are to blame.
Thirty-five MPs, who are members of the transportation committee at the PA, were present at the meeting, which continued until late hours, during which they have repeatedly demanded Mansour’s resignation.
“Twenty of the MPs are independent and opposition members who have unanimously agreed that Mansour should resign and the majority of the remaining 15 who are members of the National Democratic Party agreed, said Abdel Fattah Eid, member of the transportation committee who was present at the meeting.
“Personally I don’t think that when Mansour steps down the problem is solved, although it calms down public [fury], the root of the problem is in the system itself and this is what needs to be changed and if another person comes and applies the same strategy accidents will continue to take place and the deterioration will continue, explained Eid.
MP Abdel Aziz Khalaf, member of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc, suggested that Mansour did not resign but was rather fired due to the escalating number of accidents and problems during his tenure “of which there is only one victim, the people, so it was only natural that the government takes action.
Three railway workers have been charged with involuntary manslaughter after interrogations by the investigative committee at Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud’s office.
Two conductors and a third man who was supposed to be monitoring the tracks but allegedly abandoned his post were also charged with damaging public interest, they are all currently in custody, according to AP.
Mansour is the second transport minister this decade to resign following a deadly train crash. Ibrahim El-Dumairi stepped down from his post after 361 people died when a fire swept through a train in 2002, reported AFP.
Mansour comes from a wealthy family whose company is the sole distributor for General Motors in Egypt.
He survived a maelstrom of criticism in 2006 over the sinking of a ferry that killed more than 1,000 people in one of the deadliest disasters in modern maritime history, AFP stated.
The accident took place only weeks after Mansour had taken office.
