A passenger train derailed north of Cairo on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring 16 others, Egyptian officials said. This was the latest in a series of rail accidents in the country in recent years.
Public prosecutors said in a statement that the train was on its way to the Nile Delta city of Menouf, passing through a station in the city of Qalub, when it derailed.
Health officials said at least 20 ambulances were dispatched to the scene and the injured were transferred to nearby hospitals.
Videos posted on Facebook after the collision showed crowds of people and emergency services around the rail cars, which remained upright after the derailment. Other footage showed passengers being pulled out of the wreckage through rail-car windows.
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Two people were killed and 16 others injured after a train derailed in northern Egypt due to driver error. (Fox News)
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In a statement released later, the Egyptian Railways Authority said that the derailment was caused by driver error.
Train derailments and accidents are common in Egypt, where the railway system has a history of poorly maintained equipment and mismanagement. In recent years, the government has undertaken several renovation and modernization initiatives to improve its railways.
In 2018, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that about 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $8.13 billion, would be needed to properly fix the North African country’s neglected rail network.
In 2021, two trains collided in the southern Egyptian city of Tahta, killing 32 people. Later that year, 11 people were killed when a train derailed in Qalubiya province.
Egypt’s deadliest train crash occurred in 2002, when a train traveling from Cairo to southern Egypt caught fire, killing more than 300 people.
