A passenger train derailed north of Cairo, killing at least 11 people, Egyptian officials said, most recently in a series of rail crashes that have hit the country in recent years.
Four train cars fled the railway through the city of Banha in Qalyubia province, right next to Cairo, the railway authority said in a statement on Sunday. Videos on social media showed overturned wagons and passengers escaping safely along the railway.
The train was traveling to the city of Mansoura in the Nile Delta, the Egyptian capital.
The health ministry said at least 98 people were injured, most of them suffering from broken bones, cuts and bruises. At least 60 ambulances were sent to the scene, and the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
Rescue crews could be seen searching for survivors and removing derailed wagons. It was not clear immediately what caused the train to derail, and prosecutors said they were investigating the cause of the accident.
The state-run Ahram newspaper reported that authorities detained at least 10 railway officials, including the train driver and his assistant, pending an investigation.
At Banha University Hospital, people lined up to donate blood for the victims of the accident. Families were also present in search of loved ones who had traveled by train.
Sunday’s crash came three weeks after two passenger trains collided in Sohag province, killing at least 18 people and injuring another 200, including children. Prosecutors said they found that the serious negligence of railway employees was behind the fatal crash on March 25, which caused public outcry across the country.
Wrecks and train accidents are common in Egypt, where the railway system has a history of equipment and mismanagement. The government says it has launched a comprehensive renovation and modernization initiative. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said in March 2018 that the government needs about 250 billion Egyptian pounds ($ 14.1 billion) to overhaul the damaged rail system.
Hundreds of train accidents are reported each year in Egypt. In February 2019, an unmanned locomotive hit a barrier at Ramses Main Station in Cairo, causing a huge explosion and a fire that killed at least 25 people. The accident prompted the then transport minister to resign.
In August 2017, two passenger trains collided just outside the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo. Egypt’s deadliest train crash was in 2002, when more than 300 people were killed after a fire broke out in an overnight train traveling from Cairo to southern Egypt.