Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld a 15-year prison sentence for a train driver over the 2019 train crash at central Cairo station that killed and injured dozens.

The driver was one of several defendants accused of negligence in the crash that resulted in the death of 31 people and the injury of 17.

The top appeals court also upheld a fine of EGP 8.8 million against the driver, 10-year jail terms against four defendants, and seven-year sentences for five.

The court upheld prison terms ranging from two to five years against three other defendants.

The prosecution had accused the locomotive driver of “tampering with the train's equipment and devices, allowing their movement on the railway by disabling one of the tractor's safety devices.”

The prosecution charged the other defendants with forging signatures in attendance books.

In February 2019, a blaze broke out at Cairo's Ramses Railway Station following the fatal train crash. CCTV video circulated online showed a locomotive was left unattended at a train yard after its driver had jumped out to speak with the conductor of another train that crashed into the first locomotive.

When the two locomotives disengaged, the unmanned locomotive moved at maximum speed towards the railway station to crash into a concrete barrier at the end of the train line, bursting into flames.