Aug 25, 2006

Egyptian Disaster.. AGAIN!!

From the BBC News: The collision between two passenger trains in Egypt is the country's worst rail accident for four years!!.

This is the worst in Four years!!.. Does that mean this is not the only accident!!.. Actually I made some search myself, Look what I found:

February 2006: Passenger ferry with 1,400 sinks in Red Sea.
January 2004: Airliner crashes into Red Sea No survivors likely. A charter with 152 people aboard, most of them French tourists, crashed shortly after takeoff.
February 2002: Train travelling south from Cairo was consumed by a fire, killing some 373 people.
November 1999: A train travelling between Cairo and Alexandria hit a truck and derailed, killing 10 and injuring seven.
April 1999: At least 10 people died and nearly 50 were injured in northern Egypt after a head-on collision between trains.
October 1998: About 50 people were killed and more than 80 injured in a derailment just south of Alexandria. The train failed to stop at buffers and ran into a busy market square. Reports suggested that passengers travelling on the roof of the train may have tampered with an air pipe, disabling the brakes.
February 1997: At least 11 people died after a collision caused by human error and a signalling failure north of Aswan.
February 1996: A train hit a lorry on level crossing 90km north of Cairo, killing 11 people.
December 1995: A train rammed into the back of another in thick fog, killing 75 people. The driver was blamed after an inquiry found that the train was travelling well above the speed limit.
May 1995: Nine people died after a train hit a barrier just north of Cairo and derailed.
April 1995: A train and a bus collided on a level crossing in the Nile Delta, killing 49.
December 1993: At least 12 people died and 60 were injured when two trains collided head-on about 90km north of Cairo.
February 1992: A head-on train collision just outside Cairo killed 43 people.


Just look at all these people getting killed!!, that's one of the worst symbols of just how low the Egyptian citizen is in the government eyes!.. I blame the government for all these disasters.. I believe if the government has even the lowest self dignity, the whole government should resign and announce that they fail to rule Egypt, From the president to every single minister to the heads of the country!.. All should resign form their positions.. But ofcourse, nothing will happen, Its just normal disaster that happens in every country like they always say.. Hope u wake up fellows, and no it doesn't happen this often.. I find no words to say except these written by Ahmed Fouad Negm, Actually its for a whole different disaster when he wrote this poem, but I 'll just use his lines in this disaster too.

الحمد لله خبطنا
تحت بطاطنا
يا اهل مصر المحميه
بالحراميه
الفول كتير والطعميه
والبر عمار
والعيشه معدن واهي ماشيه
اخر اشيا
مادام جنابه والحاشيه
بكروش وكتار

ح تقول لى سينا وما سينا شي
ما تدوشناشي
ما ستميت اوتوبيس ماشى
شاحنين انفار
ايه يعني لما يموت مليون
او كل الكون
العمر اصلا مش مضمون
والناس اعمار

الحمدلله وأهي
ظاطت
والبيه حاطط
في كل حته
مدير ظابط
وإن شالله
حمار

ايه يعني شعب ف ليل ذلة
ضايع كله
دا كفاية بس اما تقول له
احنا الثوار

الحمد الله ولا حولا
مصر الدوله
غرقانة فى الكدب علاوله
والشعب احتار
وكفايه اسيادنا البعدا
عايشين سعدا
بفضل ناس تملا المعده
وتقول اشعار
اشعار تمجد وتماين
حتى الخاين
وان شا الله يخربها مداين
عبد الجبار

Aug 15, 2006

Ain Sokhna Trip

Yesterday, I was going to Ain El Sokhna, we started this trip at 5:30pm.. I just had my car battery replaced with a new one, so everything should be pretty fine.. Suddenly, on the middle of the road after 50 Kilos.. The car's battery indicator turned red.. These indicators don't turn on unless there is something wrong.. But it turned off after 5 min or something.. So, I was relieved... Then.. The ABS indicator turned on, then the Airbag system indicator turned on...

I pulled over by the side of the road, no one was really on road coz we were in the middle of the week, and no one actually take a vacation in the middle of the week. Anyway, I pulled over, turned off the car to take a look on the battery, maybe it has been installed in a wrong way or something, I took a look at the battery, everything is in place, everything is plugged in place. I came back into the car, turned it on.. And the engine doesn't start, its not turning on.
I tried to look again at the battery installation, but everything seems in place. I called my cousin, He's a mechanical engineer and very good at what he do, and me and his car have the same engine too. Anyway, he told me don't stop the car engine (He didn't know yet the I already stopped it). By this time, Another car pulled over to check on me, he asked if I need any help, Thank god one of them was actually a mechanic, he took a look at the battery, and he said its installed correctly, but since my car is automatic, we can't just give it a push and start the engine. I had wires so that we can connect my car battery with his, and we did, and I finally started the engine, my cousin told me to stop by the nearest gas station and check on the battery, and that there two options that could have done this, either the battery is bad, or the dynamo is not working.
I pulled over at the next gas station that I found, there were two guys at first who seemed didn't know much about anything, I told them not to touch anything, anyway the electrician in the gas station came, he checked it, over, and over, and over again.
And finally he came with the conclusion that the dynamo is not working. I called my cousin, he had the same opinion as the electrician, and they both told me that all we can do is, just charge the battery, then I have to drive all the way back to Cairo which is 60 Kilos away, without turning any lights on(it was almost 9pm), because all the electric of the car now is depending on the battery..
we charged it, I went on my way, took the first U turn, and headed back to Cairo, I turned off my lights, and I was going behind a microbus depending on his lights..
unfortunately, my car just dropped of battery, because the dynamo is not working, and it turned off by itself.
The bad and the good thing in all this was that my Mom was with me.. I called my cousin to tell him to call his friend who has those big cars to left our car all the way to Cairo, then I called 8000 (mobinil personal services) took the lifting car service of Mobil. I called them, they said they will send me one of their cars now. And they did.. The Mobil car arrived almost at 11:30, we lifted my car, drove to Cairo, sent the car to the mechanic, me and mom took all the stuff that we cant keep in the car (lots of stuff coz we were going in a vacation). Took a taxi back to home, and arrived home at 2:00 am. :-) WOW.. What a trip and a nice vacation!!.. Forgot to tell u, the sky was really clear while waiting for 3 hours in the desert, the stars where amazing, and only one car pulled over to check if we need anything or any help, only one car, all others just drove by!..