Rail staff cleared over Egypt disaster

Passengers were going home for an Islamic festival

A Cairo court has acquitted 11 railway employees on trial for negligence, following the worst train catastrophe in Egyptian history.

"The report submitted by the accident's investigators provides no real evidence condemning the accused," head judge Saad Abdel Wahad said.

Egyptian justice has had enough of being presented with minor civil servants in these kinds of trials

Judge Saad Abdel Wahad

The tragedy happened in February, when 361 people were killed by a fire in the third class coaches of a train connecting Cairo to Aswan.

The verdict was greeted by cries of joy from a courtroom packed with friends and relatives of the 11 defendant men - all junior officials of Egypt's railways.

Defence lawyers had argued that years of negligence and mismanagement in the upper echelons of government and the railway authority were responsible for the tragedy.

The judge implicitly accepted this, and said those really responsible were still free.

"Egyptian justice has had enough of being presented with minor civil servants in these kinds of trials," he said.

Fanned flames

The defence welcomed the ruling.

"This verdict shows that justice in Egypt is fair and it aborted an attempt to deflect the responsibility for this awful accident onto a number of scapegoats," defence lawyer Nabil al-Helaly told Reuters news agency.

Most bodies were burned beyond recognition

The victims of the disaster burned to death as fire swept through packed carriages.

The train continued for several kilometres, the wind fanning the flames, until the driver finally realised the carriages were burning.

Prosecutors said a small stove used by passengers to brew tea and coffee was the source of the blaze.

The defendants included the train's chief mechanical engineer and maintenance staff, as well as fire safety officers.

They were accused of not ensuring that the train was equipped with functioning fire extinguishers, allowing too many passengers onboard, and applying the train brakes too late.

The disaster prompted the resignation of Egypt's transport minister and of the president of the railway authority.