Nearly 100 people injured after train derails in Egypt

Reuters photo

CAIRO: Ninety-seven people were injured on Sunday when four train carriages derailed in Egypt`s Qalioubia province north of Cairo, the health ministry said in a statement. Two security sources and local media reported that several people had been killed in the accident, but there was no official confirmation. Officials did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

The train was heading from Cairo to the Nile Delta city of Mansoura and derailed at 13.54 local time (11:54 GMT), about 40 kilometres north of Cairo, Egyptian National Railways said in a short statement. The cause of the accident is being investigated, it added.

More than 50 ambulances took the injured to three hospitals in the province, the health ministry said.

The derailing is the latest of several recent railway crashes in Egypt. At least 20 people were killed and nearly 200 were injured in March when two trains collided near Tahta, about 440 km (275 miles) south of Cairo.

Fifteen people were injured earlier in April when two train carriages derailed near Minya al-Qamh city, about 70 km north to Cairo.
Egypt`s transportation minister Kamel El-Wazir, a former army general, has faced calls to resign from some Egyptians on social media. 

He has rejected these and vowed to keep working on developing the ageing rail network.