At least seven dead and 112 injured. This is the outcome of the terrible train accident that occurred in the governorate of Giza, Egypt. Two trains collided, causing several passenger carriages to derail in Al-Ayyat district.
The accident in Egypt
According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, 72 ambulances participated in the rescue operations: the injured were transferred to various hospitals in Giza and the nearby governorate of Beni Suef. As reported in an official note, the Minister of Health, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, ordered the health facilities of both governorates to raise the alert level and guarantee all necessary medical assistance and emergency support to the injured.
In a previous statement, the Egyptian National Railway Authority had specified that the accident occurred between the Kafr Ammar and Al-Raqqa stations, when a train on the Giza-Fayoum route hit another train in service on the Cairo-Aswan line. Emergency crews and cranes were sent to the site to clear the area and remove the carriages remaining on the tracks, with the aim of restoring train service in both directions as quickly as possible.
Egypt, collision between two trains in Giza (Photo LaPresse)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah al-Sissi expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. In a post on Images released by local media show several carriages overturned on their sides following the accident.
The previous one
The accident occurred in the same area where, in 2002, the most serious train disaster in Egyptian history occurred: over 370 people died in a train fire south of the capital. In 2009, other train accidents in the same area caused dozens of victims