Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: DURUNKA, EGYPT LENGTH: Medium
More than 60 others died in floods that struck villages in the provinces of Asyut, Sohag and Qena. Hospital officials in the provincial capital, Asyut, said they had more than 70 patients with severe burns that were difficult, if not impossible, to treat.
Unusually heavy rains and winds apparently overturned eight tanker cars full of fuel stored by the military. The fuel ignited and spread rapidly, with 14-foot-high flames borne on floodwaters sweeping through the town in minutes.
Many people bitterly attacked the government for allowing the depot, which held 40,000 tons of fuel, to be placed in the town. It was less than 100 yards from the nearest home.
``How could they ever have allowed this depot here, knowing the danger it could cause?'' asked Mahmoud Shahata, 18, who lost 30 relatives. ``The government must bear the responsibility for this.''
Survivors worked all day scouring the waterways and fields around Durunka. Several fires still smoldered.
``My Uncle!'' cried Ghadoor Ali, 50, a farmer as he stood knee-deep in the coffee-colored mud next to two burned bodies.
Ali, with two young boys, soon set to work, ladling away the mud. When they finished, they marked the bodies, as has quickly become the custom here, with yellow cornstalks poked into the ooze.
``I have been here since dawn,'' said a mud-caked Mohammed Ali. ``We usually find the small children in groups of three or four. Most of them drowned. But the adults are so badly burned we often do not know who they are.''
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB