Cairo [Egypt], November 9: A passenger train derailed in the Egyptian city of Giza on Sunday, leaving seven dead and at least 112 others injured, health authorities said.
Several carriages flipped over on the line between Cairo and the southern Nile city of Aswan, the Ministry of Health added in a statement.
The four fatalities were passengers. Initially, the ministry said 64 people were injured in the mishap.
Egypt's state-run National Railway Authority said the accident occurred after one train collided with the rear of another, causing several carriages to derail.
Cranes and emergency crews were dispatched to the scene to clear wreckage and expedite the reopening of the line for rail traffic, the authority added.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah al-Sissi offered condolences to the families of the dead.
He added in a post on the X social media platform that he had ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the incident, and holding accountable everyone to be found negligent.
Images posted by local media showed several carriages lying on their sides in the aftermath.
Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, has seen several railway tragedies in the past years. The worst rail disaster took place in 2002, when a passenger train caught fire, killing 361 people.
Egypt's 110 million people depend heavily on rail transport, but the cross-country network - one of the largest in Africa - is in need of modernisation.
Over the past decade, Egypt has poured billions of dollars into updating its transport infrastructure, including new highways and high-speed rail lines, but has yet to overhaul much of its dated train services.
Source: Qatar Tribune
