The Al-Ayyat accident brings the issue of train accidents back to the forefront and raises demands for accountability

Awatif Kamel did not expect that her daily trip between Fayoum and Cairo, which she relies on to provide a source of income for her family, would end with a serious spinal injury following a two-train collision in the Al-Ayat area on Sunday, which, according to the official toll, resulted in the deaths of at least seven people and the injury of dozens of others.

Awatef is accustomed to traveling daily on the suburban train, where she transports vegetables to Cairo to sell them before returning to Fayoum with the income she earns that helps her support her son with disabilities and her five daughters.

She told the BBC that she was on her way back to Fayoum when the train stopped for a while in the Al-Ayat area, before resuming its journey. Moments later, she heard a strong crash, causing her to lose consciousness and later wake up in the hospital suffering from a severe back injury.

Awatif's story comes among many testimonies that emerged following the accident, in an attempt to monitor its humanitarian repercussions on the passengers of the suburban train, which thousands of low-income passengers rely on daily and call it the "train of the poor."

Eyewitnesses who spoke to the BBC said that the scene of the accident was tragic, with bodies found under the wheels of the train and a number of carriages destroyed, while the people of the village of Raqqa near the site of the accident rushed to help the passengers and try to extract the injured people stuck inside the wrecked carriages.

Witnesses add that ambulances and civil protection forces arrived at the site without delay. They point out that some cranes were unable to lift the wreckage of the wagons, and that two wagons of the emergency train sent by the Railway Authority to help derailed.

The people also tried to help the rescue teams recover the victims, as is usual in such incidents, and some witnesses say that a number of the injured died inside the ambulances before they reached the hospitals to which the victims were transferred.

Official visits continued to the site of the accident, after a statement issued by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to offer condolences and support to the families of the victims and the injured, in which he directed the necessity of investigating the circumstances of the accident and holding those responsible accountable.

The incident sparked widespread criticism on social media and in local media, much of which focused on the Minister of Transport, Lieutenant General Kamel Al-Wazir, amid accusations of deficiencies in the management of the railway facility, despite what was announced that billions of pounds had been spent on developing it over the past years.

Users circulated a video clip showing the minister in a heated discussion with a citizen during his visit to the accident site. The citizen was talking about his sadness due to repeated train accidents, so the minister asked him to "be silent and let the authorities work."

In the context of criticism, media figures and politicians pointed out that the state spent large sums of money on modernizing the railway network, signaling systems and monitoring train movement, wondering to what extent these investments reflect the level of safety in the facility.

Egyptian journalist Amr Adeeb said, in his evening program, that the Ministry of Transport has repeatedly promised to reduce accidents related to the human factor by introducing electronic control systems, wondering about the efficiency of these systems and their ability to prevent accidents.

On the other hand, journalist Ahmed Musa tried to calm the criticism directed at the minister, saying that there is a tendency to hold a number of Railway Authority officials accountable due to suspicions of negligence. For his part, journalist Mohamed Al-Baz described talk about the minister's political responsibility as "political luxury."

The Egyptian Parliament's Transport Committee scheduled an emergency session on Tuesday to question the minister about the causes and repercussions of the accident. Representative Freddy Al-Bayyadi submitted a statement in which he called for the formation of an independent technical committee to review the circumstances of the accident, while Representative Maha Abdel Nasser called for the dismissal of the Minister of Transport.

Hassan Salama, professor of political science at Cairo University, says that the parliamentary moves represent a positive step to activate the role of oversight institutions, indicating that the minister may bear political responsibility for the ministry’s performance.

The Civil Democratic Movement demanded the dismissal of the Minister of Transport and the formation of an independent technical committee to investigate. Khaled Talima, spokesman for the movement, says that the demand for the dismissal of Kamel Al-Wazir is not new, stressing the importance of providing care for the families of the victims.

Data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics indicate that the number of train accidents in Egypt decreased during the year 2025 to 170 accidents, compared to 220 accidents in 2024. With regard to railways, the former head of the authority, Engineer Mohamed Amer, said that the state has implemented investments worth 366 billion pounds to modernize the system in recent years.