Egypt’s Transport Minister Kamel El-Wazir under fire after Nile Delta’s train crash

The collision of two passenger trains in Egypt's Nile Delta over the weekend left four dead, including two children, and injured nearly 50 others. Since then, Egyptian Minister of Transport Kamel El-Wazir has come under intense scrutiny, with many renewing demands for his removal from office.    

The reasons behind the incident, which took place on Saturday in Zagazig, the capital city of northern Sharqiya province, have not yet been officially confirmed. Nevertheless, the situation has been marred by conflicting reports.

In an interview with a private satellite TV channel broadcast live after the collision, minister Wazir said that "the 25 ambulances sent to the scene made people overestimate the severity of the situation."

The health ministry, however, said in an official statement hours later that "40 ambulances rushed the wounded to two nearby hospitals."

During an interview with the eXtra News reporter, Wazir denied that any technical glitches caused the crash, which was a result of what he described as "a human error."

Wazir further said that all passengers were taken to hospitals assuming they had been wounded without being initially examined for serious injuries.

Wazir's statements have prompted social media activists to deem the minister's stance “irresponsible” for underestimating the magnitude of the incident. 

"Kamel […] made me laugh despite today’s sad incident […] Laugher that sounds like crying over how the 'men of state' have become in Egypt. For sure, being a minister is primarily a political post. Does a politician tasked with two ministries utter such statements?" prominent author and political sociologist Dr Ammar Ali Hassan, rhetorically, wrote in a post on the social media platform, X.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor-general's office said in an official statement that two committees of technical experts, one from the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority, and another from the Egyptian National Railways Authority, have been assigned to examine the two trains.

The authorities detained two railway workers over alleged involvement in the incident, with no reference to possible foul play.

Saturday's incident is one of a series of similar tragedies that have been common in Egypt in recent years, reportedly, amid the absence of efficient legal or political accountability.

A mother's tragedy

The incident brought tragedy into one Egyptian family, claiming the lives of two daughters and one granddaughter.

"Bring them together to warm each other," the distressed mother and grandmother, named Azza, said as she desperately asked for the bodies of her loved ones to be placed together. Minister of Social Solidarity, Maya Morsi, was caught in video by several local news outlets as she attempted to comfort the woman in shock.

In recent years, the recurrence of railway tragedies led many Egyptians to blame Wazir for the deteriorating conditions of the sector in the country, calling on him to step down.

Nevertheless, in July this year, Wazir, a former senior military officer known for his loyalty to President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, assumed additional roles as a minister of industry and a deputy premier against all the odds.