Deadly train derailment north of Cairo

CAIRO –

A passenger train derailed north of Cairo on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring 16 others, Egyptian authorities said. It was the latest in a series of rail accidents in the country in recent years.

The train derailed as it passed through a station in the town of Qalyoub, en route to the Nile Delta town of Menuf, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement. They said they have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident.

At least 20 ambulances were dispatched and the injured were taken to hospitals, health authorities said.

Videos of the aftermath posted on Facebook showed crowds of people and emergency services gathered around the rail cars, which were left upright. Other footage shows passengers being pulled out of the wreckage through train carriage windows.

Train derailments and accidents are common in Egypt, where the railway system has a history of mismanagement and poor equipment maintenance. In recent years, the government has announced modernization initiatives to improve its railways.

In 2018, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said about 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $8.13 billion, would be needed to properly overhaul the North African country’s neglected rail network.

In 2021, two trains collided in the southern Egyptian city of Tahta, as a result of which 32 people were killed. Later that year, a train derailed in Calubia province, killing 11 people.

Egypt’s deadliest train crash occurred in 2002, when more than 300 people died after a fire broke out overnight on a train heading south from Cairo to Egypt.