Egypt appoints military officer as transportation minister after deadly train crash

10 March 2019, 2:19 pm

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Egypt’s president is appointing a military officer to lead the country’s transportation ministry, less than two weeks after its minister resigned over a deadly February train crash in Cairo that killed 25 people.

The general turned president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, says that Maj. Gen. Kamal el-Waziri, who heads the military’s engineering authority, is awaiting approval from parliament to replace Hisham Arafat as transportation minister.

Firefighters and onlookers gather at the scene of a fiery train crash at the Egyptian capital Cairo’s main railway station on February 27, 2019. (Stringer/AFP)

Eleven people have been arrested over the deadly accident which was triggered by a brawl between two drivers.

Egypt’s rundown railway system is badly in need of overhaul after a series of deadly crashes in recent years. It has a history of badly maintained equipment and poor management. Most recent publicized official figures show that 1,793 train accidents took place in 2017 across the country.

— AP