Al Ayyat train disaster
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The Al Ayyat train disaster happened at 02:00 on the morning of 20 February 2002 on a passenger train of 11 carriages, running from Cairo to Luxor. In its fifth carriage a cooking gas cylinder exploded and created a fire which spread as the train ran. 7 of its carriages were burnt. 383 people, all Egyptian, died in the fire or were killed attempting to jump from the train.
The fire was extinguished at Reqqa al-Gharbîya village near Al `Ayyat town in Gîza province. Each carriage should have carried no more than 150, but 300 or more people were in each, because it was the Muslim holy day Bairam. In Islam it was the Hajj time.
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