Seven people were killed and more than 100 injured when two trains collided Sunday south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, officials said.
The accident occurred in al-Ayyat district of Giza province, about 48 kilometers south of Cairo, when a train bound for Fayoum province crashed into the rear of a train bound for the southern province of Aswan, according to the Transport Ministry.
An inspection indicated that the Cairo-Aswan train was stopped on the same track, officials said.
Train derailments and accidents are common in Egypt, where the rail system has a history of mismanagement and poor equipment maintenance. In recent years, the government has announced modernization initiatives to improve its railways.
Ayman Gamal, a resident of Kafr Girza in al-Ayyat where the accident occurred, said people rushed to the scene, pulled out survivors and called ambulances.
Gamal said he saw around 80 injured people taken by ambulance to hospital. He said some passengers got stuck in one of the stationary train’s carriages and died.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said in a social media post that he had ordered a swift investigation.
Emergency teams and cranes were dispatched to the scene to clear the rubble and restore train service to its normal schedule as soon as possible, the Egyptian railway authority said.
Last September, a train driver and his assistant were injured when two freight trains collided in the same area.
Egypt’s deadliest train accident occurred in 2002, when more than 300 people were killed after a fire broke out on a night train traveling from Cairo to southern Egypt.
Gn world
