Mohamed Ramadan watched from his small office as the out of control locomotive sped past him on platform four of Cairo’s Ramses train station just after 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 27. In the seconds before it smashed into the end barrier of the station and burst into flames, he yelled out to bystanders warning them to get out of the way.
“It was coming so quick before it hit the stop and then exploded, taking everything in its way,” Ramadan told Al-Monitor. He said he ran in the direction of the explosion almost immediately, to those who had caught fire.