Rail crash families infuriated

Egyptian riot police guarded the mortuary in Cairo yesterday as relatives arrived for the mostly hopeless task of trying to identify victims of the country's worst rail disaster.

More than 370 people died in a fire that swept through seven carriages of an overcrowded third-class train on Wednesday.

Relatives complained that, because the victims were poor, the government would not spend money on modern technology to identify the remains.

"The authorities should use DNA and other advanced tests," said Ahmed Ali, who was looking for his brother.

A woman dressed in the traditional garb of southern Egypt, where most of the victims came from, said she knew her husband was on the train, but could not identify the body. "How am I going to prove he is dead?" she wept.

Families said that without official death certificates they would not be able claim pensions or the £457 compensation promised by the government.