Egypt train collision kills seven, injures 112

Seven people were killed and 112 injured when two trains collided south of Cairo on Sunday, Egypt's health ministry said.

Egypt's railway authority said a train travelling from Giza to Fayoum crashed into the rear of another service heading south from Cairo to Aswan. Several carriages derailed in Giza's Al-Ayyat area.

The health ministry said the injured were being treated in hospitals around Giza. It said injuries ranged from bruises and abrasions to fractures of limbs, pelvis and vertebrae, as well as head and facial cuts and chest injuries. Forty-five patients had been discharged after treatment, and seven others were expected to be released later.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he was following the accident with great concern and had ordered an urgent investigation to hold accountable anyone found to have been negligent.

Witness Abdel Wahed Mohamed said the Aswan-bound train had stopped when the Fayoum-bound train crashed into it, and said six carriages overturned. Another witness, Ahmed Moussa, said rescuers dug beneath one overturned carriage to reach trapped passengers. Taha Abdel Tawab said he saw a young man leaving the train carrying his dead father.

Rescue workers used cranes and heavy machinery to right overturned carriages as ambulances took the injured to nearby hospitals. Authorities said they had opened an investigation into the cause.

Al-Ayyat was the site of Egypt's worst rail disaster in 2002, when more than 370 people were killed after a fire swept through a train carrying holiday travellers south of Cairo. Multiple train crashes in the area killed dozens in 2009.

Egypt's 110 million people rely heavily on rail transport, but the network has suffered repeated deadly accidents. The country has spent billions of dollars over the past decade updating transport infrastructure, including highways and high-speed rail lines, while much of the ageing rail network has yet to be overhauled.