Train collision kills over 36 in Egypt

At least 36 people were killed as two trains collided on Friday outside the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, in one of the deadliest accidents in Egypt, the health ministry said.

The crash also injured 123 people, the ministry said in a statement. Footage on the state broadcaster showed one train had partly keeled over in the crash, and medics were seen moving the dead and injured to ambulances.

Transport ministry officials, quoted on state television, said the crash was probably caused by a malfunction in one train that brought it to a halt on the rails. The other train then crashed into it.

One of them had been heading from Cairo to the northern city of Alexandria and the other from the canal city of Port Said, east of the capital, to Alexandria.

Egypt’s transport minister has ordered an investigation into the crash, Nile TV reported. Officials fear the death toll and the number of injured could rise further.

The deadliest rail accident in Egypt was in 2002 when 373 people died as a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital.