A man injured in a train fire last week has died, a hospital official said yesterday, raising the death toll in Egypt's worst railway disaster to 364.

Hani Ragab Abel-Hafiz, 20, died Tuesday, said Hani Mustapha, an official at Kasr Al-Aini Hospital. Abdel-Hafiz and nine other critically injured passengers were admitted to the Cairo hospital after the train burst into flames en route to the southern city of Luxor on Feb. 20.

The train was crowded with people headed home for the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha. Some passengers jumped to their deaths from the cars and scores were trapped inside as the train traveled in flames for 2 1/2 miles before the driver stopped.

Investigators have said flames from a small stove started the fire, according to newspaper reports, but police officials have said a final report from prosecutors on the cause will be released next week.

Egypt's transport minister and railway authority chief resigned after the disaster, which prompted widespread accusations of negligence and calls for more investment in the dilapidated railway system.

Eighty-five-year-old Tillie Tooter got an apology in court yesterday for the hit-and-run accident that left her trapped in a mosquito-infested swamp for three days. She wished the young motorist luck and urged him to "learn to lead a better life."

Scott Campbell, 23, was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to reimburse the woman's medical expenses from the August 2000 accident.

A judge had delayed the sentencing a day to give Tooter time to travel from Philadelphia to hear Campbell's apology, which was required under his plea bargain with prosecutors.

"I'd like to tell you from the bottom of my heart that I'm truly sorry for the ordeal you went through. I feel very remorseful," Campbell said.

Tooter responded: "I feel deeply sorry for your mother because I know you must have hurt her. I have no ill feelings towards you. I just hope you will make a good life for yourself."

Tooter was driving her Toyota Tercel to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport to pick up a relative early in the morning when Campbell's car hit her from behind, pushing her car off a bridge and into a tangle of trees that held her suspended above the water of a swamp.

Campbell, who according to his lawyer had become drowsy at the wheel, stopped on the highway and called police. But he did not tell anyone that a car had gone over the wall.

To get through the three-day ordeal, Tooter sucked on a cough drop and a peppermint and chewed a piece of gum. She absorbed rainwater with golf socks and sucked on them to avoid dehydration.

She was finally rescued when a teen-ager picking up trash glanced over the bridge railing and saw her looking up at him.

Campbell pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an injury accident and making a false police report.

After the courtroom apology, Tooter spoke privately with Campbell, dabbing away tears afterward.

"I wished him luck in his future life, to learn to lead a better life, to accept whatever comes his way and to respond in a better way than he did," she said. "My family went through a terrible, terrible ordeal not knowing where I was. But that's all in the past. That's gone now."

Tooter's attorney, Terry Rosenblum, said she still suffers from painful neck and shoulder injuries. He said he had no immediate estimate of her medical costs.

Campbell's attorney, Yale Galanter, said Tooter agreed to settle her lawsuit against the Campbell family. But she is pursuing a lawsuit against the government agencies that failed to find her.

A 911 caller had reported seeing a car going over the railing, but the state trooper sent to Campbell's wrecked car was not told of that call. Fire-rescue personnel made a cursory search for a second car but did not look over the side of the bridge in the right spot.

Wait times on the U.S.-Mexican border since Sept. 11 are improved but unpredictable, while passenger traffic is significantly lower, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said yesterday.

The U.S. Chamber surveyed more than 45 chambers of commerce in the southernmost counties of Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona to measure the effects of the attacks on border economies and lifestyle.

The U.S. Chamber used the findings to call on Congress to invest more in border infrastructure. It also pressed lawmakers to extend the deadline for Mexicans to get high-tech border crossing visas to help boost border economies.

Theresa Brown, the chamber's manager for immigration and labor issues, said reduced wait times were due to "Herculean efforts" from federal officials.

"There's a lot of unpredictability and everyone is working overtime. We don't think it's a sustainable situation," Brown said.

The chamber said the survey is unscientific and many of the statistics are personal estimates of those interviewed because the figures are not systematically collected. But the chamber said the survey provided "on-the-ground" assessments from businesspeople that could be useful to national policymakers.

The report found border gridlock led to lost manufacturing and retail business and that the attacks significantly reduced the number of people crossing for work, school and tourism. The expiration of a deadline for Mexicans to get crossing cards containing electronic identification information also has kept traffic down.

The chamber said most waits at the border crossings have improved considerably since Sept. 11, but they remain significantly higher at some crossings than before the attacks.