
Train crash in Egypt kills 1, injures 21 people
A locomotive crashed into the tail of the Cairo-bound passenger train Sunday in southern Egypt, killing at least one person and injuring multiple others, authorities said. It is the second train crash in a month in the North African country.
The collision occurred in the province of Minya, 270 kilometers (about 168 miles) south of Cairo, the railway authority said in a statement, and two railway carriages fell into an adjacent watercourse. The cause of the crash was being investigated, the statement added.
Footage aired by local media showed the two carriages partially submerged in the watercourse.
Along with the fatality, the Health Ministry said in a separate statement at least 21 people were taken to hospitals, of which 19 were later discharged after receiving treatment.
Train derailments and crashes are common in Egypt, where an aging railway system has also been plagued by mismanagement. In September, two passenger trains collided in a Nile Delta city, killing at least three people.
In recent years, the government announced initiatives to improve its railways. Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said in 2018 some 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $8.13 billion, would be needed to properly overhaul the neglected rail network.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Voice of America
21-02-2025
- Voice of America
Researchers Use Chemical Examinations and Human Smell to Study Ancient Remains
A recent study about the smell of Egyptian mummies reached some surprising findings. The ancient bodies did not smell bad, the researchers found. Instead, they say, the remains mostly smelled good. Cecilia Bembibre is director of research at University College London's Institute for Sustainable Heritage. 'In films and books, terrible things happen to those who smell mummified bodies,' she said. 'We were surprised at the pleasantness of them." The researchers reported the leading descriptions of the smells as 'woody,' 'spicy' and 'sweet.' They also reported a floral or flowery smell. That smell could be from pine and juniper resins used in mummification; a process designed to protect the body from decay. The study appeared recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. It used both chemical examinations and several human smellers to study nine mummies. The mummies, some around 5,000 years old, had been housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Bembibre, one of the report's writers, said the researchers wanted to study the smell of mummies because it has long been a subject of interest for the public and researchers alike. She added that even fiction writers have written pages of work on the subject — for good reason. Scent, or smell, was an important consideration in the mummification process. This process used oils and plant-based materials to protect the body and its spirit for the afterlife. Mummification was largely used for powerful people such as pharaohs and other leaders. Pleasant smells were linked with purity and gods. Bad smells were signs of corruption and decay. Researchers did not want to directly measure the mummies, because doing so might be damaging. Instead, researchers were able to take measurements that did not involve touching the mummies. Researchers from UCL and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia were able to measure smells, pesticides, and other effects due to mold, bacteria or microorganisms. Using technical instruments to measure air molecules released from sarcophagi was very important, said Matija Strlič, a chemistry professor at the University of Ljubljana. "It tells us potentially what social class a mummy was from and therefore reveals a lot of information about the mummified body...." he said. 'We believe that this approach is potentially of huge interest to other types of museum collections.' Barbara Huber of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany was not involved in the study. Huber said the findings provide important data on compounds that could preserve or damage mummified remains. The information could be used to better protect the ancient bodies for future generations. Huber said that over thousands of years, differing conditions have changed the scents of the mummies in a major way. Huber wrote a study two years ago that examined a jar that had contained mummified organs of a woman. The goal was to identify the material used to preserve the organs and what that would show about ancient trade paths. Researchers of the current study hope to do something similar. They want to use their findings to develop 'smellscapes' to recreate the scents they discovered. They also want to change the experience for future museumgoers. Bembibre said museums generally ask visitors to experience everything with their eyes. She added that seeing mummies through 'a glass case reduces the experience because we don't get to smell them.' Smelling the scents of mummification would improve the museum visitors' experiences, she suggested, as smell is one of the ways that people understand the world. I'm John Russell. Brian Melley reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. _________________________________________________________ Words in This Story mummy – n. an ancient body treated for burial with preservatives resin – n. natural organic substances that are usually transparent or translucent and yellowish to brown in color and are often made from plant materials; they are also soluble in organic solvents but not in water, are electrical nonconductors, and are used to cover and protect surfaces decay – n. to go through or cause to go through decomposition fiction – n. something invented by the imagination museum – n. a place devoted to the care, study, and display of objects of interest, importance or value sarcophagus – n. an ancient container used for holding human remains potentially – adv. possibly reveal – v. to show plainly approach – n. a way of dealing with something preserve – v. to keep in a good state or condition


Voice of America
12-01-2025
- Voice of America
15 killed in explosion and fire at gas station in central Yemen
An explosion at a gas station triggered a massive fire in central Yemen, killing at least 15 people, health officials said Sunday. The explosion occurred Saturday at the Zaher district in the province of Bayda, the Houthi rebel-run Health Ministry said in a statement. At least 67 others were injured, including 40 in critical condition. The ministry said rescue teams were searching for those reported missing. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the explosion. Footage circulated online showing a massive fire that sent columns of smoke into the sky and left vehicles charred and burning. Bayda is controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have been at war with Yemen's internationally recognized government for more than a decade. Elsewhere in Bayda, the Houthis attacked and looted Hanaka al-Masoud village in the al-Qurayshiya district last week, according to the internationally recognized government. It said there were fatalities but gave no figures. Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the attack came after a weeklong siege of the village. "This horrific attack targeted citizens' homes and mosques, and resulted in many casualties, including women and children, and the destruction of property," he said. Rights activist Riyadh al-Dubai said the Houthis detained dozens of men and looted homes, seizing valuables such as gold, money, daggers and other possessions. He said shelling by the Houthis had continued relentlessly day and night for more than five days. The U.S. Embassy in Yemen condemned the attack, saying in a statement that the "deaths, injuries, and wrongful detentions of innocent Yemenis perpetrated by Houthi terrorists are depriving the Yemeni people of peace and a brighter future." Yemen's civil war began in 2014, when the rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's north, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed at the time by the U.S., in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government. The war has killed more than 150,000 people including civilians and combatants, and in recent years deteriorated largely into a stalemate and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.


Voice of America
29-12-2024
- Voice of America
Gaza captors tortured hostages, including minors, Israeli report says
Hostages held in Gaza were subjected to torture, including sexual and psychological abuse, starvation, burns and medical neglect, according to a new report by the Israeli Health Ministry that will be submitted to the United Nations this week. The report is based on interviews with the medical and welfare teams which treated more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages, most of whom were released in late November 2023, in a brief truce between Israel and Hamas. Eight hostages were rescued by the Israeli military. The hostages include more than 30 children and teenagers, a few of whom were found to have been bound, beaten or branded with a heated object, according to the report addressed to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and published late on Saturday. Women reported sexual assault by the captors, including at gunpoint. Men were beaten, starved, branded, held bound in isolation and denied access to a bathroom, the report said. Some were denied treatment for injuries and medical conditions. The report did not identify any of the hostages by name or age, to protect their privacy, but some of the descriptions matched those provided by hostages and staff that treated them in interviews with Reuters and other media and a U.N. report. Hamas has repeatedly denied abuse of the 251 hostages abducted from Israel during its October 7, 2023, assault. About half of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed by Israeli authorities to still be alive. A fresh bid to secure a Gaza ceasefire including a hostage deal has gained momentum in recent weeks, although no breakthrough has been reported as yet. The war began with Hamas' October 2023 attack, in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. Israel's subsequent campaign against Hamas has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials, displaced nearly all of Gaza's population and reduced much of its territory to rubble. Israeli authorities are investigating allegations of abuse against Palestinian detainees arrested during the war.