Egyptian transport officials have been rushing to deal with two disasters, as the national railway chief was sacked following a train crash that killed 58 and a bus accident left another 11 dead.
Egyptian media and opposition politicians lashed out at the government amid the latest tragedies.
Transport Minister Mohammad Mansour announced that national rail chief Hanafi Abdelkawi had been fired and his deputy Eid Mahran suspended pending a probe into the train disaster last Monday.
At least 58 people were killed and 144 injured when a passenger train slammed into the back of another using the same track in the town of Kalioub, just north of Cairo, derailing carriages and setting one train ablaze.
Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif told reporters during a hospital visit to see some of the injured that an inquiry had been launched and results would be known within 48 hours. "Those responsible will be held truly accountable".
On Tuesday, at least 11 people were killed when a bus carrying mostly Israeli tourists flipped over near the northern Sinai resort of Nuweiba, security and hospital sources said.
Hospital sources on the peninsula, home to resorts that are popular with such tourists, said 39 others were injured. Most of the victims were believed to be Arabs with Israeli nationality, the sources said.
Egyptian security sources said the accident occurred on a winding mountain road near the hamlet of Saada, about 45 kilometers north of Nuweiba, as the bus was heading to Taba, on the border with Israel.
The sources said the bus was speeding but did not rule out a technical fault as the cause of the accident.
In Cairo, Mansour said a technical committee would be formed to "study the causes of the [rail] crash and to prevent such accidents in the future", the official MENA agency reported.
The tragedies were just the latest in a series of Egyptian transport disasters, most of which have been blamed on negligence and poor maintenance.
The country's deadliest rail disaster occurred in February 2002, when a passenger using a stove set fire to a train, killing at least 361. The lack of emergency exits resulted in most passengers being trapped inside the burning carriages.
On February 3, a ferry sank in the middle of the Red Sea, killing around 1,000 people in one of the worst maritime tragedies in recent years. Shipowner Mamdouh Ismail, a government-appointed member of the upper house and the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak, subsequently fled the country.
He was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in March, his assets were frozen a month later and he was made to pay compensation to the families of victims.
The fact that Ismail, who is believed to have close ties with the Presidency, was allowed to flee the country fueled accusations that the state was involved at the highest level.
Monday's train crash further inflamed the press and public opinion.
"The state is collapsing, and corruption and ruin is creeping into it", said Gamal Badawi in the opposition Al-Wafd daily.
"Who is going to bear the responsibility for the blood that was spilled in Kalioub station? And whose turn will it be next, when new victims will die under the wheels of decaying trains, and twisted rails and equipment which does not work?"
Columnist Nabil Rashwan, writing in the independent daily Nahdet Masr, said the Kalioub crash "opened the file of disasters for the thousandth time, and no authority is accountable.
"We have lost more Egyptians in train disasters than we lost in all our wars with Israel. What is the price the officials will pay for the victims?"
Abdallah Kamal of the Rose el-Youssef daily predicted that government investigations would fail to address the true issues or condemn the real culprits.
Egypt's largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, added its voice to the chorus of criticism.
"As usual, the authorities are looking for a scapegoat, without seeking to reform the administrative apparatus, which is plunged in corruption and sloppiness", a Brotherhood statement said.
Since last February there have been three major train crashes in Egypt, where transport has a reputation of being dangerous.
About 6,000 people die in road accidents each year. A report by the Transport Ministry said they were the second-most important cause of death in the country.
© Monday Morning 2006
