A collision between two trains on Friday morning near the southern Egyptian city of Sohag left 32 people dead and some 66 others injured, Egypt’s health ministry said.
A ministry statement said that “thirty-two citizens died and 66 others were injured in the collision of two trains in Tahta, in the governorate of Sohag”, about 460 kilometers south of Cairo.
The Attorney General has ordered the opening of an investigation into the causes of this accident.
Egypt is regularly the scene of serious road or rail accidents, due to anarchic traffic, dilapidated vehicles or poorly maintained and poorly supervised roads and railways.
The deadliest railway tragedy in Egyptian history occurred in 2002, when a train burned down that killed some 370 people some 40 kilometers south of Cairo.
