Egypt Train Collision: 7 Killed, 112 Injured as Giza–Fayoum Train Rams Cairo–Aswan Service in Al-Ayyat
Several carriages derailed in the crash south of Cairo. President Sisi has ordered an urgent investigation; the area was the site of Egypt’s worst rail disaster in 2002.
Seven people were killed and 112 injured on Sunday, 8 November, when two passenger trains collided in the Al-Ayyat area of Egypt’s Giza province, south of Cairo, according to the country’s health ministry.
How the crash happened
Egypt’s railway authority said a train travelling from Giza to Fayoum struck the rear of another train heading from Cairo to the southern city of Aswan. Railway officials placed the collision in Gerza village in Al-Ayyat district, between Kafr Ammar and Al-Raqqa stations. Several carriages derailed, and images from the site showed coaches overturned, with one thrown clear of the tracks.
Early counts put the toll at four dead, among them a train driver, before the health ministry raised it to seven. State media had earlier reported 120 injuries without saying how serious they were.
Rescue and investigation
The health ministry said 72 ambulances took part in moving the injured, who were taken to hospitals at Al-Wasta, Al-Ayyat and Atfih. Emergency crews used cranes to clear the wreckage and restore traffic on the Cairo–Upper Egypt line.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said he was following the accident with great concern and directed authorities to carry out an urgent investigation and hold accountable anyone found to have been negligent. Officials have opened an inquiry into the cause.
A troubled stretch of track
Al-Ayyat has a grim history. In 2002, more than 370 people died when fire swept through a train carrying holiday travellers south of Cairo, Egypt’s worst rail disaster, and several crashes in the area in 2009 killed dozens.
Egypt’s 110 million people rely heavily on trains, and the network is one of Africa’s largest. The country has spent billions of dollars on new highways and high-speed rail over the past decade, but much of the older rail network is yet to be overhauled.
Featured image: Egyptian Railways (ENR) 6.jpg by Abdelrhman 1990, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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