The Al Ayyat train disaster happened at 02:00 on the morning of 20 February 2002 on a passenger train of eleven carriages, running from Cairo to Luxor. In its fifth carriage a cooking gas cylinder exploded and created a fire which spread as the train ran. Seven of its carriages, all third class, were burnt almost to cinders. The official figure given by officials at the time was of 383 people dead, all Egyptian. However, considering that 7 carria...
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The Al Ayyat train disaster happened at 02:00 on the morning of 20 February 2002 on a passenger train of eleven carriages, running from Cairo to Luxor. In its fifth carriage a cooking gas cylinder exploded and created a fire which spread as the train ran. Seven of its carriages, all third class, were burnt almost to cinders. The official figure given by officials at the time was of 383 people dead, all Egyptian. However, considering that 7 carriages were burnt to the ground and each carriage was packed with at least double the maximum carrying capacity of 150, this figure is considered by many to be a great underestimate. The dubious nature of the given number of deaths also stems from the fact that there was no proper passenger list, so accounting for those missing was almost an impossible job at the time. As well as this, the carriages were so badly burnt and the fire so intense that a huge number of corpses had simply been turned to ash. As there was no means of communication...
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