The funeral service for 27 Copts who lost their lives at dawn today as a train hit the bus and vehicles they were boarding will be held late this afternoon at the Mar-Girgis (St George) church in Fayoum Bishopric.
The funeral service for 27 Copts who lost their lives at dawn today as a train hit the bus and vehicles they were boarding will be held late this afternoon at the Mar-Girgis (St George) church in Fayoum Bishopric. The bishop of Fayoum, Anba Abra’am will preside over the service. Another 24, among them 15 children, were injured and lie in hospital.
The victims had been heading home to Fayoum at 2:00am after midnight from a wedding party they had attended in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. As their bus and cars crossed the rails at Dahshour, some 40km south of Cairo, a cargo train that was coming at full speed hit the bus. The signal had allowed the bus to cross. The collision caused the train to drag the bus forward for almost a kilometre. The prosecution is investigating the incident.
The funeral may be put off, however, since not all the bodies have as yet been identified, and body parts are still being collected in the desert sands around the site of the accident.
Watani International
18 November 2013