Stove’s Flames Sparked Train Fire, Probe Finds

Flames from a small stove started the fire that killed 363 people in Egypt’s worst train disaster, investigators have concluded.

Investigators found several small stoves amid the charred debris of the two train cars that suffered the worst damage in the Feb. 20 fire south of Cairo, according to several Egyptian newspapers. Passengers often carry such equipment to heat food and water for tea and coffee, despite regulations banning stoves, gas cylinders and fuel.

The pro-government newspaper Al Akhbar said the report rebutted an earlier theory that the fire might have been caused by an electrical short circuit.