Train collision kills 32 in Egypt

At least 32 people died on Friday after two passenger trains collided south of Cairo, the latest in a string of rail crashes in the country.

The train collision took place in the southern province of Sohag on Friday, causing some carriages to derail, Egyptian media said.

Health Ministry said that in addition to the 32 killed, 108 others were injured in the crash, with injuries ranging between fractures, wounds and bruises in different body parts. The state-run railway authority said that one of the two trains suddenly stopped after some people tampered with an emergency device on its carriages.

The second train ploughed into the stationary train from behind, the authority added in a statement. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi offered condolences to families of the dead.

He added in a Facebook post that those responsible for the crash would face a “deterrent punishment.” Egypt’s chief prosecutor Hamada al-Sawy ordered an immediate investigation into the accident, state television said. Egypt has seen several railway tragedies in recent years. In February 2019, an unmanned locomotive rammed into a platform at Cairo’s train station, causing a fire that claimed 31 lives. Egypt’s worst rail disaster took place in 2002, when a passenger train caught fire, killing more than 360 people. Vanguard