CAIRO, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered on Wednesday to hold accountable, after investigation, those responsible for the recent deadly train fire in Cairo that killed at least 20 and wounded 43.

"I have instructed the government to immediately rush to the accident scene to follow up the situation and hold those responsible accountable after the results of an accurate investigation," the Egyptian president said in the beginning of a joint press conference with visiting Albanian President Ilir Meta.

Earlier on Wednesday, a train locomotive crashed into the buffer stop at the end of rail tracks at the main railway station near Ramses square downtown the capital Cairo, causing a massive fire and leaving numerous casualties, according to the Egyptian railway authority.

Sisi said he also ordered to follow up the health conditions of the wounded and provide all necessary care for them and their families, offering sincere condolence to the families of the victims.

The country's then Transport Minister Hesham Arafat submitted his resignation over the tragedy, and it was accepted by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

The resigned minister announced last April a project to renovate the country's old railway system by 2022, with a total cost of 55 billion Egyptian pounds (about 3.1 billion dollars).

A security source said that the heavy crash caused explosion of the train fuel tank and led to the blaze.

Medics told Xinhua that most of the wounded are in critical conditions, sustaining second- or third-degree burns, while eyewitnesses at a hospital said the bodies were completely charred by the fire.

Madbouly went earlier to the crash scene accompanied by Arafat, as well as Health Minister Hala Zayed and Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali.

"There will be no leniency or complacency in holding those responsible for the accident accountable," Madbouly said at the station, stressing that "the era of keeping silent on those who fail to do their duties toward the Egyptian citizens is over."

The cabinet also ordered financial compensation of 80,000 Egyptian pounds (about 4,570 U.S. dollars) for the family of each deceased or each person with a consequent total disability and 25,000 pounds for each of the wounded.

The country's top prosecutor ordered probe into the tragedy.

Ali Kamal, a passenger, told Xinhua that "the explosion was horrible. I saw two men flying out of the train windows with their bodies on fire."

"It was too difficult to rescue anyone, for everyone was busy escaping the fire and the heavy smoke," he added.

Photos showed damages in the train and part of the station building.

Egypt witnessed a number of deadly train accidents over the past few years, in which hundreds were killed and injured.

In August 2017, a train crash in the northern coastal province of Alexandria left at least 49 dead and about 180 wounded. Later in February 2018, a collision of two trains in Beheira province north of Cairo killed 12 people.

The deadliest train accident in Egypt took place in Giza's district of Ayyat in 2002, which killed 350 passengers when a fire broke out in a train coming from Upper Egypt, forcing many passengers to jump for their lives. Enditem

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