An Egyptian court on Monday convicted eight transport ministry employees of manslaughter for a train crash that killed 18 people south of Cairo in October, court sources said, according to Reuters. The crash occurred when a first class train filled with passengers rammed into a mostly empty stationary train on the same track. Egypt"s transport minister later resigned over the incident. The court sentenced the stationary train"s driver to seven years in prison and the second train"s driver to three years, the sources said. Six other transport employees were also given prison terms ranging between three to five years. Lawyers for the defendants said they would appeal against the ruling, saying the punishments were too harsh, the sources added. A series of road and rail accidents in Egypt in recent years has triggered an outcry over the state"s handling of transport safety. The October crash took place in al-Ayyat district, which in 2002 was the scene of Egypt"s worst rail disaster when fire ripped through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train, killing at least 360 people. A train crash in northern Egypt killed 44 people in 2008, two years after another killed 58 people.
