DEVELOPING HISTORY
At least 97 people were injured after the derailment of eight cars in the city of Qalyubia, north of Cairo.
97 people were injured when train cars derailed in Egypt’s Qalyubia province, north of Cairo, the health ministry said in a statement.
More than 50 ambulances rushed to the site and transferred the injured to three hospitals in the province, he said on Sunday. Local media said some people were killed in the crash.
At least eight train cars derailed, the provincial governor’s office said in a statement. Videos on social media reportedly showed overturned cars and passengers escaping to safety along the railroad tracks.
The train was heading to the city of Mansoura in the Nile Delta from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, the statement added. The cause of the accident was not yet clear.
Egypt has experienced several railway tragedies in recent years.
At least 20 people were killed and nearly 200 were injured in March when two trains collided near Tahta, about 440 km south of Cairo.
Earlier this week, 15 people were injured after another train derailed in the northern province of Minya al-Qamh.
In February 2019, an unmanned locomotive crashed into a barrier inside Ramses main train station in Cairo, causing a massive explosion and fire that killed at least 25 people. This accident prompted the then Minister of Transport to resign.
Egypt’s deadliest train crash occurred in 2002, when more than 300 people were killed after a fire broke out on an overnight train traveling from Cairo to southern Egypt.
