• Two trains are seen after they collided just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo
    Two trains are seen after they collided just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo
  • The wreckage and rescue operation of a train collision near Khorshid station in Alexandria. At least 36 people were killed as two trains collided outside the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, in one of the deadliest in a string of such accidents in Egypt, the health ministry said. Khaled Desouki / AFP
    The wreckage and rescue operation of a train collision near Khorshid station in Alexandria. At least 36 people were killed as two trains collided outside the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, in one of the deadliest in a string of such accidents in Egypt, the health ministry said. Khaled Desouki / AFP
  • Officials and emergency personnel remove the wreckage of a collision between two trains near Khorshid station in Alexandria. Khaled Desouki / AFP
    Officials and emergency personnel remove the wreckage of a collision between two trains near Khorshid station in Alexandria. Khaled Desouki / AFP
  • A victim of a train collision on the outskirts of Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria lies in a hospital bed in the city. AFP
    A victim of a train collision on the outskirts of Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria lies in a hospital bed in the city. AFP
  • Local people look on as emergency personnel and officials remove the wreckage following a collision by two trains near Khorshid station in Alexandria. Khaled Desouki / AFP
    Local people look on as emergency personnel and officials remove the wreckage following a collision by two trains near Khorshid station in Alexandria. Khaled Desouki / AFP
  • Egyptian workers and security personnel prepare to retrieve the wreckage left by the collision of two passenger trains in Alexandria. Hazem Gouda / EPA
    Egyptian workers and security personnel prepare to retrieve the wreckage left by the collision of two passenger trains in Alexandria. Hazem Gouda / EPA
  • People view the wreckage after two passenger trains collided in Alexandria. Hazem Gouda / EPA
    People view the wreckage after two passenger trains collided in Alexandria. Hazem Gouda / EPA
  • Army attend the scene of a train collision just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo
    Army attend the scene of a train collision just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo
  • Onlookers gather at the scene of a train collision just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo
    Onlookers gather at the scene of a train collision just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo
  • Two trains are seen after they collided just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo
    Two trains are seen after they collided just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Ravy Shaker / AP Photo

Egypt train crash: Dozens dead and more than 100 injured

The collision in Alexandria left bodies strewn on the ground around wrecked carriages.

The National staff

August 11, 2017

  • English
  • Arabic

Two trains collided in Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria on Friday, killing 37 people and injuring 123 others, the health ministry said.

One eyewitness said the two trains mounted into the air "forming a pyramid" after they slammed into each other at a suburban station on the edge of the Mediterranean port city.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered authorities to establish who was responsible for the crash, which left bodies strewn on the ground around wrecked carriages.

The collision at 2.15pm, near Khorshid station at the edge of Alexandria, derailed the locomotive of one train and two cars of the other, the Egyptian Railway Authority said.

State newspaper al-Ahram said earlier that 36 bodies had been taken to hospital morgues in Alexandria province.

As rescue teams pulled dead and injured from the damaged rail wagons, public prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered an urgent investigation.

A railroad switching error most likely caused the crash, a security source said without giving further details.

One resident, Hoda, was standing on her rooftop when she saw the trains collide.

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"They rose in the air forming a pyramid when they collided," she said. "I started to scream from the rooftops for people to grab some sheets and run."

A health ministry spokesman said 75 ambulances had been deployed at the crash scene. Some people were still stuck inside the trains, a medical official told state TV.

State television showed dozens of people crowding around the damaged train cars, with bodies strewn on the ground.

"The train I was riding was going very quickly," said passenger Moumen Youssef. "I found myself on the floor. When we came out, we found four train cars crushed and a lot of people on the ground."

Egyptians have long complained that successive governments failed to enforce basic safeguards for the railways, leading to a string of fatal crashes.

In 2012, a train ploughed into a school bus south of Cairo and killed 50 people, mostly children, inflaming public anger over Egypt's antiquated transport network.

In Egypt's worst train disaster, a fire tore through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train in 2002, killing at least 360 people.

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