, 11 tweets, 6 min read Read on Twitter
There is horrific footage of the Ramses Train Station explosion showing people literally on fire after the explosion set them ablaze. It is a gut wrenching embodiment of the toll on #Egyptians of state neglect.
Every week terrible news comes from #Egypt. Today’s train disaster, last week’s execution of 9 men, news of forced disappearances,the proposed amendments to the constitution that could give Sisi more terms in office. Daily people struggle to get by & survive state neglect & abuse
Ramses Station is used by millions every year. In Arabic it’s known as Mahatet Masr which means Egypt Station. A disaster like that at this Station symbolizes so much. I’ve taken the train from there to Alexandria many times; I took the train from Aswan to that station in 2017.
Neglect of the train system in #Egypt is criminal. Almost every year there is a disaster - an accident, a collision, now this explosion/fire - and every year there is much useless official handwringing and calls for investigations that achieve and improve nothing.
Deadly train incidents claim hundreds of lives in #Egypt every year. Figures from #Egypt’s state statistics agency show that 1,249 train incidents took place in 2016 - the highest number since 2009 when the number reached 1,577.
In 2017, at least 40 people were killed when two passenger trains collided just outside of #Alexandria. It was the deadliest such incident since 2006, when at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near #Cairo. google.com/amp/s/www.iris…
Some other horror stories from #Egypt’s train system:

“In 2002, a massive fire engulfed a train filled with local travellers.

The train sped for miles, with flames engulfing one carriage after another, killing more than 370 people.”
”In Nov 2012, a speeding train crashed into a bus carrying #Egyptian children to their nursery in the country’s south, killing +50 people -mostly children between the ages of 4 and 6.

2 months later, at least 19 people died & +100 were injured in train derailment south of Cairo”
As a Reuters corespondent in #Cairo, I reported on the Dec 1995 train collision in which 75 people were killed. It was one of the worst stories I’ve reported on. It’s included here on #Egypt's history of train disasters. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_ea…
So, when the #Egyptian regime isn’t executing (killing) people after horrendously unjust trials in which torture led to “confessions” it is killing people through criminal levels of neglect of infrastructure and mass transportation.
Pictures I took inside Ramses Station February 2017 after the end of a 14hr train journey from #Aswan to #Cairo. RIP all who died at this station today.
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