WESTBURY, N.Y. — A witness told police that the driver who caused a deadly crash by trying to go around a lowered railroad gate on New York’s Long Island was fleeing the scene of an earlier crash, a police official said Wednesday.

“The witness said that individual was involved in an accident and went around the gate,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.

The car was hit by two commuter trains and burst into flames Tuesday, killing the driver and two passengers, Ryder said.

The Long Island Rail Road provided limited service on Wednesday as railroad employees worked to remove the damaged train cars and repair the tracks.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a “full investigation into the collision,” which also forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 passengers and crew members on the two trains.

Police said an eastbound train that had just pulled away from the Westbury station struck the car at 7:20 p.m. The car was then struck again by a faster-moving westbound train. The three people in the car were killed and eight people on the westbound train were injured, three of them seriously, officials said.

The crash was the fifth incident at the same crossing in 40 years and the second involving a train hitting a vehicle, according to federal safety data. In the others, a person walking or standing on the tracks was hit by a train.

County Executive Laura Curran, who joined Ryder and other officials at a news conference, said the crash shows how foolish it is to drive around the gate.

“I cannot repeat this enough,” Curran said. “Please do not try to beat the train. Nothing is so important.”

The westbound train derailed after hitting the car and crashed into the concrete platform, sending chunks of concrete and rebar into the front car of the train.

“It was completely destroyed, the front cab,” Ryder said.

Ryder said the engineer and a passenger in the front car survived by running backward through the car before it hit the platform. He said emergency workers rescued the two from the mangled train car.

Dr. Anthony Boutin, head of the emergency department at Nassau University Medical Center, said three people were hospitalized with serious injuries and are expected to completely recover. The other crash victims were treated for minor injuries.</s>Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has accepted the resignation of Transport Minister Hisham Arafat, according to a Cabinet statement, following a train crash at Cairo’s Ramses Station on Wednesday which left 20 dead and 40 injured.

The locomotive collided with the pavement at the end of the line at high speed, causing its fuel tank to explode and triggering a massive fire, officials said.

Minister of Justice Hossam Abdel Rehem alerted the Forensic Medicine Authority to promptly receive the train crash’s victims and perform an autopsy on the deceased after having the prosecution’s approval, urging that the examinations be performed quickly.

Top prosecutor Nabil Sadeq opened an urgent investigation into the incident, ordering the formation of a committee to find out the cause of the accident.

A team of prosecutors moved to the scene, accompanied by a number of forensic doctors who listened to eyewitnesses.

This article has been adapted from its original source.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A train collided with a buffer stop and burst into flames next to a busy platform

At least 20 people have been killed and 40 injured after a train crash sparked a large fire at Cairo's main railway station, Egyptian officials say.

The train hit a buffer stop near the end of a busy platform at Ramses Station, which is in the city centre.

The collision caused the train's fuel tank to explode, setting the platform and nearby buildings alight.

The cause of the crash is not yet clear, but only hours later Transport Minister Hisham Arafat resigned.

Witnesses described seeing several severely burned bodies in the latest disaster to hit Egypt's rundown railways.

State-run media earlier reported a higher death toll of at least 25 and as many as 50 injured.

Image copyright AFP Image caption President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi extended his condolences to the families of the victims

During a visit to the scene, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli vowed to severely punish anyone who was found to have been negligent.

"We will identify who is responsible for the accident and they will be held accountable," he said.

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi extended his condolences to the families of those who died and pledged to ensure that the injured received the support they needed.

Image copyright EPA Image caption A platform kiosk was engulfed by fire

Local media published what they said was CCTV footage showing people on the busy platform as the train hits the buffer at high speed and explodes.

Another video, taken from a CCTV camera above a nearby subway staircase, appears to show people fleeing as a fireball engulfs the platform.

"I saw a man pointing from the locomotive as it entered the platform, and screaming 'There are no brakes! There are no brakes!', before he jumped out of the locomotive," witness Ibrahim Hussein told Reuters news agency.

"I don't know what happened to him."

Image copyright EPA Image caption The train's fuel tank exploded after the crash

"I removed nearly 20 bodies, and carried them to the ambulance, all of them completely burned," Ahmed Mahmoud told news agency AFP.

"[The train] should have slowed down as it was about to enter the station, but it came in too fast."

The privately owned news website al-Shorouk cited a source as saying the train had been undergoing maintenance when it started moving at speed towards the station's main building without a conductor.

The source added that this was not the first incident of its kind, explaining that there had been two other cases of a train moving without a conductor that had not resulted in any deaths or injuries.

Image copyright EPA Image caption People gathered outside Ramses Station after the crash

Egypt's railway system has a poor safety record, which many observers blame on a lack of investment by successive governments and poor management.

In August 2017, 43 people were killed and more than 100 injured when two passenger trains collided outside the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.

The country's deadliest rail accident occurred south of Cairo in 2002, when a fire ripped through an overcrowded passenger train, killing more than 370 people.</s>CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s transport minister resigned on Wednesday following a deadly train crash in Cairo that killed at least 25, a cabinet statement said.

The prime minister accepted Hisham Arafat’s resignation, the statement said.</s>Egypt’s transport minister resigned on Wednesday following a deadly train crash in Cairo that killed at least 25, a cabinet statement said.

The prime minister accepted Hisham Arafat’s resignation, the statement said.

On Wednesday, a fiery train crash killed at least 25 people at Cairo’s main station, security and medical sources said.

The train engine appeared to have slammed into the buffers at the end of the track at high speed, sparking a major blaze at the Ramses station and leaving 40 more people injured.</s>CAIRO — A speeding railcar crashed into a barrier at Cairo’s main train station, causing its fuel tank to explode and triggering a huge fire that left at least 25 people dead on Wednesday, officials said.

Railway officials said the train was speeding and collided head-on with the barrier. At least 47 people were also injured in the accident.

Mohammed Said, the head of the Cairo Railroad hospital, said there are concerns the death toll could rise further following the blaze. Other officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.

Photographs from the station showed charred bodies lying on the platforms at the Ramsis station in downtown Cairo. Firefighters struggled to get the flames under control.

Heavy black smoke rose into the sky as ambulances rushed to the scene. The Ramsis district is among the busiest and most crowded areas of the Egyptian capital.

The state railway agency briefly halted all train traffic and ordered the evacuation of the station.

Videos from surveillance cameras inside the station showed flames ravaging the station. A video that surfaced on social media showed men and women carrying bags and personal belonging and walking on the rail platforms as the train car crashed and exploded.

Another video showed men and women running, searching for exits after the explosion. A man runs back and forth, his shirt on fire, until another man rushes to pour water on him.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said authorities must determine “who caused the accident and hold that person accountable.” He promised “harsh punishment” for the culprits.

Egypt’s railway system has a poor safety record, mostly blamed on decades of badly maintained equipment and poor management. Official figures show that 1,793 train accidents took place in 2017 across the country.

In March last year, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said the government lacks about 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $14.1 billion, to overhaul the run-down railway system. El-Sissi spoke a day after a passenger train collided with a cargo train, killing at least 12 people, including a child.

And in August 2017, two passenger trains collided just outside the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.</s>CAIRO (AP) — A locomotive crashed into a barrier at Cairo’s main train station at high speed on Wednesday, causing its fuel tank to explode and triggering a huge fire, leaving at least 25 people dead, officials said.

Railway officials said the single railcar was traveling too fast when it collided head-on with the barrier. At least 47 people were also injured.

The explosion and fire blasted through people on the platform in the busy Ramses Station in downtown Cairo. A surveillance video showed the moment of impact when the car barreled past men and women walking by who are then engulfed in flames and smoke. Charred bodies lay on the platform, and a man in flames ran down a staircase in panic, according to other photos and videos posted on social media.

There was no immediate word on whether the crash was the result of a terrorist act. However, one railway official said it was too early to rule it out. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Ashraf Momtaz, a general railway inspector, told The Associated Press that there were several scenarios for what happened and one was that someone could have set the rail car on high speed, then jumped.

It was not immediately clear if the locomotive had a driver at the time of the crash, Momtaz said.

“The railcar takes time to (gather) speed so there is a chance that someone set it on full speed before leaving,” he said, adding that investigators are considering all scenarios.

“There are records that show which driver is in which railcar,” he said.

In general, he said, the accident signals “negligence from the driver and supervisors.”

Ambulances rushed to the scene and firefighters struggled to get the flames under control.

Egypt General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered an extensive investigation and sent a team of investigators to the station.

The Ramses district is among the busiest and most crowded areas of the Egyptian capital. The state railway agency briefly halted all train traffic and ordered the evacuation of the station.

One video that surfaced on social media showed men and women carrying bags and personal belongings and walking on the rail platforms as the train car crashes and explodes.

Another showed men and women running and searching for exits after the explosion. A man is seen running back and forth, his shirt on fire, until another man rushes to pour water on him.

The accident triggered an online debate among many Egyptians, with many blaming the government for not improving railway services in Egypt, even after a series of deadly accidents. Several noted previous statements by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi expression reservations about spending too much money on improving trains, for lack of funds.

Mohammed Said, head of the Cairo Railroad hospital, said the death toll could rise.

Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said that many of the wounded are in critical condition, mostly suffering severe burns.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said authorities must determine “who caused the accident and hold that person accountable.” He promised “harsh punishment” for the culprits.

Egypt’s railway system has a history of badly maintained equipment and poor management. Official figures show that 1,793 train accidents took place in 2017 across the country.

In July 2018, a passenger train derailed near the southern city of Aswan, injuring at least six people and prompting authorities to fire the chief of the country’s railways.

In March last year, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said the government lacks about 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $14.1 billion, to overhaul the run-down rail system. El-Sissi spoke a day after a passenger train collided with a cargo train, killing at least 12 people, including a child.

In August 2017, two passenger trains collided just outside the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.</s>A speeding rail car crashed into a barrier at Cairo’s main train station, causing its fuel tank to explode and triggering a huge fire that left at least 25 people dead on Wednesday, officials said. Railway officials said the train was speeding and collided head-on with the barrier. At least 47 people were also injured in the accident.Mohammed Said, the head of the Cairo Railroad hospital, said there are concerns the death toll could rise further following the blaze.Other officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak to the media.Photographs from the station showed charred bodies lying on the platforms at the Ramsis station in downtown Cairo. Firefighters struggled to get the flames under control.Heavy black smoke rose into the sky as ambulances rushed to the scene. The Ramsis district is among the busiest and most crowded areas of the Egyptian capital. The state railway agency briefly halted all train traffic and ordered the evacuation of the station.</s>Egypt state TV says death toll rises to 20 in fire following crash, explosion in central Cairo train station

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt state TV says death toll rises to 20 in fire following crash, explosion in central Cairo train station.</s>Egypt's Transport Minister Hisham Arafat has resigned, hours after a deadly train crash at Cairo's main railway station.

At least 25 people were killed and dozens more injured when a train collided with a buffer stop and burst into flames next to a busy platform.

Visiting the scene, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli promised that the disaster would be thoroughly investigated and that anyone found to be negligent would be punished.
A train crash and subsequent fire kills at least 25 people at Ramses Station in Cairo, Egypt.