Seven Killed and 125 Injured as Two Trains Collide South of Cairo

An Egyptian Railways passenger train — Image: Abdelrhman 1990 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Seven people were killed and at least 125 injured on Sunday, 8 November, when two passenger trains collided in Egypt's Giza governorate, derailing several carriages and bringing rail services south of Cairo to a halt, according to Egyptian authorities.

What happened

• The collision happened in the Al-Ayyat district, between Kafr Ammar and Al-Raqqa stations, about 52 kilometres south of Cairo, the Egyptian National Railways Authority said.
• A train travelling from Giza to Fayoum struck the rear of another service heading from Cairo to Aswan, which was stationary on the same track. Several carriages derailed, with some plunging down an embankment.
• Dozens of ambulances were sent to the scene, and cranes were brought in to lift the wreckage and clear the line towards Upper Egypt. Train services between Giza and the Upper Egypt region were suspended, and the railway authority had not said when they would resume.

The casualties

• Egypt's Health Ministry said seven people had died and 112 were injured, in figures updated as rescue work continued. The chief prosecutor's office later put the number of injured at 125 or more and warned the death toll could rise.
• More than 70 of the injured had been discharged from hospital after treatment, the ministry said. Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said victims were being treated for injuries including broken bones and head injuries, and hospitals in the area had been placed on heightened alert.
• The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was providing assistance and psychological support to victims and their families at the scene. Residents living near the crash site rushed to help, pulling survivors from the wreckage and calling ambulances.

Investigation ordered

• President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said he had ordered a prompt investigation into the circumstances of the crash and that anyone found negligent would be held accountable.
• Investigators from the public prosecutor's office arrived at the site on Sunday. An early inspection indicated the Giza-to-Fayoum train had collided with the last carriage of the stationary Cairo-to-Aswan service, but the cause of the crash had not been officially established.

Background

• Egypt's railway system, the oldest in Africa and the Middle East, has a long history of deadly accidents, and train derailments and crashes remain common.
• Al-Ayyat was also the scene of Egypt's worst rail disaster, a train fire in 2002. It is the second deadly transport accident covered on this blog this month, after the Learjet 60 crash in Florida that killed all nine people on board.

The public prosecutor's investigation is continuing, and the railway authority is expected to publish its findings on the signalling and scheduling decisions behind the collision.