Four dead and 88 injured after two Egyptian trains collide near Cairo
A collision between a Giza-Fayoum train and a Cairo-Aswan service train near Al-Ayyat resulted in at least four fatalities and 88 injuries, prompting an investigation ordered by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
At least four people were killed and 88 injured when a train traveling from Giza to Fayoum collided with a service train heading to Aswan from Cairo near Al-Ayyat, about 32 miles south of the capital. Emergency responders dispatched 52 ambulances, and the health ministry reported that 54 victims were taken to Al Wasta Hospital in Beni Suef and 10 to Al Ayyat Hospital in Giza.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ordered an investigation into the crash, and rescue teams, including cranes, are working to clear the wreckage. Witnesses said local residents rushed to help passengers trapped in overturned carriages.
The area, previously the site of Egypt’s deadliest train disaster in 2002 that killed more than 383 people, has a history of rail accidents, including a freight-train collision in September and multiple incidents in 2009.
The incident follows a recent high-speed train collision in Spain that killed 69 people, which was linked to a security-system blackout near Urda station.