Train collision south of Cairo kills seven and injures more than 100

Seven people were killed and more than 100 injured on Sunday when a passenger train slammed into the back of another train standing on the tracks in Egypt's Giza province, according to reports from the Associated Press, carried by PBS NewsHour, and BBC News.

The Health Ministry put the number of injured at no fewer than 125, the AP reported, and said more than 70 of them had been treated and released. One of the train drivers was among the dead, both outlets reported. The BBC said the public prosecutor's office warned that the toll could still rise.

The crash took place in the al-Ayyat district, roughly 52 kilometers (32 miles) south of Cairo. According to the Transportation Ministry, as cited by the AP, a train bound for Fayoum struck the rear of a train headed to Aswan. Prosecutors said an initial inspection showed the Aswan train was stopped on the same track, facing the same direction. The BBC reported that several carriages derailed and tumbled down an embankment, and that images showed overturned cars, one of which appeared to have broken in two.

Ayman Gamal, who lives nearby, told the AP that local residents hurried to the site, helped survivors out and called for ambulances. He said some passengers trapped in a car of the stationary train were dead when they were removed. Farha Gamal, a passenger on the Fayoum train, told the AP: "There were other cars that were completely mangled."

Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said patients were being treated for fractures and head injuries, the BBC reported, and the Egyptian Red Crescent said it was offering aid and psychological support at the scene.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said he had ordered an investigation. The BBC quoted him as directing authorities to "hold accountable anyone found to have been negligent." The AP reported that prosecutors' investigators had reached the site by late Sunday.

The Egyptian Railway Authority sent cranes and emergency crews to remove the wreckage. The BBC said service between Giza and Upper Egypt was suspended, with no timeline given for its return. The BBC also reported calls in Egypt for the transport minister to step down, and condolence messages from Saudi Arabia and Turkey's ambassador.

The AP noted that crashes are frequent on Egypt's railways, which have a record of poor management and maintenance, and that the government has announced upgrade plans in recent years. The area has seen earlier disasters: a 2002 fire on a southbound passenger train killed more than 300 people by the AP's count, while the BBC put the official figure above 370. The BBC said two crashes in the area in 2009 killed dozens, and the AP reported that a freight train collision in the same district last September injured a driver and his assistant.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and BBC News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/884