Home | China | World | Business Egypt Buries Victims of Train Accident MON, FEB 25, 2002     Egypt on Sunday held mass funeral services for victims of Wednesday's train accident, the worst in the country's 150 years of railway history, the official MENA newsagency said. A total of 144 charred bodies beyond recognition were buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of Cairo. A number of government officials attended the funeral. According to a preliminary report issued by Egypt's forensic medicine department on Sunday, a fatal fire engulfing the ill-fated overcrowded train claimed 357 lives, instead of the 375 people reported previously by local media. The identified 213 bodies have been handed over to their families, said the report. According to local press, an investigation panel blamed the tragedy on an electrical short-circuit, dismissing a theory that an explosion of a gas cylinder caused the fire. Following the tragedy, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accepted the resignation of Transport, Communications and Civil Aviation Minister Ibrahim Mohamed Metwalli el-Demiri. In addition, Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid has named a new chairman of the Railways Authority to succeed Ahmed el-Sherif, who resigned after the train fire. Mubarak has stressed that those who neglected their duties in the accident should be penalized, saying that "no truth will be concealed, because the accident is very grave and the lives of the Egyptians are very dear." Editor:Zhong Source:Xinhua Recommend to your friend email:    China Central Television,All Rights Reserved