CAIRO, 13 April, 2021 (TON): Human errors and gross negligence by the railway staff caused last month’s deadly collision of two trains in Sohag province, Egypt's Public Prosecution revealed on Monday.

On March 26, a Spanish train crashed into the back of a standing one, leaving 20 people dead and 199 others wounded, and resulting in losses which have been estimated at more than EGP 25 million.

The reason behind the accident was the driver's assistant of the moving train and the person in the watchtower who was in charge of changing the train's course at the site of the accident have been under the influence of narcotic substances, the prosecution revealed.

Additionally, a drug test showed the two persons had taken cannabis and tramadol.

Meanwhile, the investigation results revealed that the driver and assistant in the train that caused the crash were not inside the driving cabin at the moment of the accident.

However, it added that the chairman of the control department that is responsible for monitoring the movement of trains was not present in his place at the time of the crash either and that the two trains' Automatic Train Control (ATC) systems were deactivated.