Egypt’s Interior Ministry has issued a statement on the fire which erupted around midnight on 4/5 August 2019
at the National Cancer Institute, a Cairo University teaching hospital in Manial, Cairo. According to the latest Health Ministry figures, the fire left 20 dead and 47 injured, in addition to a bagful of body parts.
The statement said:
“Preliminary examination of the scene of the explosion which occurred at Qasr al-Aini in front of the National Cancer Institute, revealed that the explosion had occurred owing to the head-on collision of a privately owned car with three other cars driving in the opposite direction down the road. The first car had been traveling in the wrong direction.
“Relevant apparatuses that moved to the scene to carry examinations and investigations were able to identify the car that caused the collision and determine its route. It was a car that had been reported stolen in the mid-Delta region of Menoufiya, a few months ago. Technical examination showed that the car had been loaded with an amount of explosives that blew up on collision.
“It is deemed that the car was moving to a destination where it would have served in a terror operation, but the collision took place.
“Preliminary investigations and data collection indicate that “Hasm” movement, which is affiliated to the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, is behind preparing and equipping this car for use in a terror operation, with consent of one of the elements of the movement.
“The screening, investigation, data collection, and identification of the terrorist elements involved in this action are being completed, so that legal action may be taken against them.”
In the wake of the accident, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi extended his condolences to the families of the victims of the terrorist incident on the Presidency’s Twitter page. He described the incident as a “cowardly terrorist incident”.
“I wish the injured speedy recovery, and assure you that the Egyptian State is determined to confront brutal terrorism and eradicate it from its roots,” Sisi wrote.
19 die, 30 injured in fire at National Cancer Institute in Cairo
Watani International
5 August 2019