CAIRO — Two horrific accidents on the same day in Egypt earlier this month have brought transportation safety into question as authorities examine numerous flaws in the system. Officials claim those problems range from poor maintenance to drug-addicted drivers to unqualified employees hired through nepotism.

A bus and a truck collided Sept. 7 south of Cairo, leaving 22 people dead. Just a few hours later, train No. 80 from Cairo to Aswan derailed and three cars overturned, leaving five passengers dead and 31 injured, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.

The train derailment took place at Al-Ayat, Giza, which is known as the “level crossing of death,” as the number of accidents there is high. The most famous crash was that of the “Upper Egypt train” in February 2002. Fire broke out on board train No. 832 from Cairo to Aswan, leaving 361 dead. It was described as one of the deadliest accidents in the history of railroads. Mohamed Ibrahim El Demery, the transportation minister at the time, was forced to resign as a result.

“I boarded the train because the ticket was cheap. Before Al-Ayat station, we felt a strong shock, then the vehicles overturned,” Fathy Mahmoud, one of the 2002 crash survivors, recalled in a recent phone interview on a TV show.