REQA AL-GHARBIYA, Egypt -- Aaccording to a wire service, a train crowded with Egyptians leaving the capital for a holiday weekend caught fire and sped on in flames for miles Wednesday, killing 372 people, including some who died as they jumped from the burning cars, police said.

The death toll from the train accident, which officials called the worst in decades, was expected to climb to more than 400 as police and recovery workers searched through charred train cars, said civil defense official Lt. Amin Karam.

“There has been nothing in the recent or distant past like this,” Ahmed al-Sherif, director of the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority, said at the scene. “I've been with the railway for 32 years and never seen or heard of an event of this size.”

Egypt's Middle East New Agency said the cause of the fire was a burst gas cylinder using for cooking in the dining car. But al-Sherif said the cause had not yet been determined. He said the third-class train had no dining car, but that passengers often brought gas cylinders and small stoves aboard despite regulations forbidding it.

A team of investigators that reached the scene Wednesday afternoon declined comment.

Each car designed to hold about 150 passengers was crammed with twice that number, police said, which would have put more than 3,000 people aboard. Survivors said the train was so full that they were sitting on the floor. Al-Sherif put the number aboard lower, at about 1,200, but acknowledged even that figure meant the train was overcrowded.

Al-Sherif said the train left Cairo on its 300-mile journey to Luxor about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and the fire broke out about 1 a.m. Wednesday. The train traveled in flames for 2 1/2 miles before finally stopping at Reqa al-Gharbiya, a village 60 miles south of Cairo. Al-Sherif it was not clear why the emergency brakes were not applied immediately.

The flames were put out hours later.

Wednesday afternoon, a warning siren blared repeatedly in Reqa al-Gharbiya as workers wearing gloves and masks placed bodies charred and twisted by fire, many burned beyond recognition, into ambulances. A firefighter said some of the corpses were under seats as if people had retreated there in hopes of finding safety.

Corpses had melded together in piles on the train. Among charred luggage collected nearby, a Bible, children's clothing and what appeared to be a wedding dress could be seen.

Police said 65 people were being treated for injuries, most in the hospital in the nearest town, Ayyat, 12 miles to the north.

Said Fuad Amin, a 22-year-old construction worker, jumped from the burning train and was being treated for a broken hand and a suspected concussion in Ayyat.

He said the first signs of trouble on the packed train were shouts and screams that he attributed to a fight. Then he saw flames and people running, including a women whose clothes were on fire.

“People were running like crazy,” Amin said.

Amin ran, too, until he found a window broken open. He hesitated at first because the train was moving fast.

“I thought I was going to die anyway, so I jumped,” he said.

It was the last thing he remembered before waking in the hospital. Crying, he said he did not know what happened to friends with whom he had been traveling to spend the holiday with their families in southern Egypt.

Many of the passengers were going to their home villages for Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of the Sacrifice,” a four-day holiday that starts Friday. The holiday commemorating God's provision of a ram to Abraham as a substitute sacrifice instead of his son is regarded as the most important feast in the Islamic calendar.

Mosques were opened to the rescued and villagers supplied blankets, food and hot drinks to the stranded passengers.

Adel Hassan Fadlallah, a 21-year-old laundry worker being treated at Ayyat Hospital, said his car quickly filled with smoke. He jumped from a window and suffered wounds to his head and hands.

Some jumpers weren't so lucky. Ambulance workers say 40 bodies were recovered from along the tracks.

The rail line linking Cairo with southern Egypt was closed indefinitely.

Wednesday's fire was the deadliest train accident in years in a country where such tragedies are common. In 1998, 47 people were killed when a train jumped its rails and slammed into a crowded town square.

Prime Minister Atef Obeid, who went to the scene, defended the railway.

“All trains are in good shape and at the highest degree of efficiency and they are reviewed completely and regularly,” the prime minister said.

Railway Director Al-Sherif said the train had no technical problems and was carrying fire extinguishers.

But the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority has been plagued by overstaffing, old equipment and poor service. It relies on heavy state subsidies to operate some 1,300 trains every day, keeping fares low for the poor Egyptians who rely on the trains.