CAIRO — Two trains collided south of Cairo on Sunday, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 100, Egyptian authorities said, according to CBS News.
The crash happened in the al-Ayyat district of Giza province, about 32 miles south of the capital, when a train headed to Fayoum province slammed into the rear of a train bound for Aswan, Egypt’s Transportation Ministry said. One of the trains derailed.
The Chief Prosecutor’s office said an inspection indicated the Giza-Fayoum train hit the last carriage of the Cairo-Aswan train, which was stopped on the same track and facing the same direction.
Egypt’s Health Ministry gave a lower count, saying at least four people were killed and 88 wounded. A train driver was among the dead, the ministry said. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said he was following the aftermath “with great concern” and had “directed state agencies to provide the necessary medical care, promptly investigate the circumstances of the accident and hold accountable anyone found to have been negligent.”
Emergency crews and cranes were sent to clear the wreckage and restore service, the Egyptian Railway Authority said.
Last September, a train driver and his assistant were injured when two freight trains collided in the same district. Egypt has spent billions of dollars on new highways and high-speed rail in the past decade but has yet to overhaul much of its aging rail network, CBS News reported.
Sources: CBS News. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Jonathan Pendleton jonathanpendleton / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
