<p>CAIRO — Egyptian prosecutors said Sunday they found that gross negligence by railway employees was behind a deadly train crash that caused public outcry across the country. Drugs were allegedly also involved.</p>
<p>The March 26 crash of two passenger trains in the province of Sohag, about 440 kilometers (270 miles) south of Cairo, was the latest in a series of deadly railway accidents in the Arab most populous country. At least 18 people died and 200 others, including children, were injured.</p>
<p>Prosecutors last month ordered the detention of eight railway employees, including two train drivers, their assistants, the head of traffic control in neighboring Assiut province, and three traffic control guards.</p>
<p>The findings, announced Sunday in a detailed statement by the public prosecution, allege that a driver and his assistant had deactivated the automatic train control system (ATC) before the collision. The ATC system is a mechanism that guides trains’ safe operation and involves a speed control.</p>
<p>Prosecutors also allege that a control tower guard had smoked hashish and an assistant to a train driver had used hashish and the opioid pain killer Tramadol, commonly sold as a street drug in Egypt. The statement did not elaborate as to whether drugs had impacted their decision making at the time of the crash.</p>
<p>Prosecutors said they have yet to conclude their investigation in the crash.</p>
<p>Train wrecks and mishaps are common in Egypt, where the railway system has a history of badly maintained equipment and mismanagement. </p>
<p>Hundreds of train accidents are reported every year. In February 2019 an unmanned locomotive slammed into a barrier inside Cairo’s main Ramses railway station, causing a huge explosion and a fire. That crash prompted the then-transportation minister to resign.</p>
<p>Egypt’s deadliest train crash was in 2002, when over 300 people were killed after a fire broke out in an overnight train traveling from Cairo to southern Egypt.</p>
