A speeding train crashed into a bus carrying children to their kindergarten in southern Egypt on Saturday, killing at least 47, officials said. Distraught families searched for signs of their loved ones along the tracks in the aftermath of the latest disaster to hit the country’s railway system.
The bus was carrying more than 50 children between four and six years old when it was hit near al-Mandara village in Manfaloot district in the province of Assiut, a security official said, adding that it appears that the railroad crossing was not closed as the train sped toward it.
Books, school bags and socks of children were strewn along the tracks near the mangled bus. Parents of the missing wailed as they looked for signs of their children. A reporter at the scene said many of the remains were unrecognisable.
Um Ibrahim, a mother of three, was pulling her hair in distress. “My children! I didn’t feed you before you left,” she wailed. One witness said the train pushed the bus along the tracks for nearly a kilometre.
As one man picked up a body part he screamed: “Only God can help!”
Two hospital officials said between seven and 11 wounded were being treated in two different facilities, many with severed limbs.
