At least seven people have been killed and more than 125 others injured after a passenger train crashed into the back of another train near Cairo, causing carriages to derail and overturn in Egypt’s Giza province, the Health Ministry said. The collision occurred on Sunday in the al-Ayyat district, where a train travelling between Giza and Fayoum hit a train on the Cairo-to-Aswan route, authorities said. The impact pushed the Aswan-bound train off its tracks and onto a countryside road, according to officials.
Egyptian National Railways said emergency rescue teams and cranes were sent to clear wreckage and restore services as soon as possible. More than 70 ambulances took part in evacuation and transport operations, and casualties were taken to nearby hospitals. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said he was following the accident “with great concern” and directed authorities to conduct an urgent investigation to “hold accountable anyone found to have been negligent”.
Witnesses described chaotic rescue efforts as villagers, first responders and railway workers tried to reach passengers trapped inside overturned carriages. Abdel Wahed Mohamed, 31, who was at a nearby cafe when the crash happened, said the Aswan-bound train had stopped when the Fayoum-bound train hit it. “The train overturned at around 1:30 pm [11:30 GMT]. Six carriages overturned,” he said, adding that victims suffered injuries including head wounds and broken limbs. Another witness, Ahmed Moussa, 25, said rescuers dug beneath one overturned carriage to reach trapped passengers. “There were people piled on top of each other inside,” he said, adding that he saw two women among the dead. Taha Abdel Tawab, 43, said he “saw a young man leaving the train carrying his dead father”.
The al-Ayyat district is also the site of Egypt’s worst-ever rail disaster. In 2002, more than 370 people were killed when a fire swept through a train carrying holiday travellers south of Cairo. In 2009, multiple train crashes in the area killed dozens. Egypt’s population of 110 million depends heavily on rail transport, but the country’s cross-country network, one of the largest in Africa, needs modernisation. Over the past decade, Egypt has invested billions of dollars in transport infrastructure, including new highways and high-speed rail lines, but much of its train service remains dated.
Original Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/8/train-crash-kills-four-injures-dozens-near-egypts-cairo-city
Category:
Tags:
Publish Date: 2026-11-09 04:02:00
