At least 32 dead and 66 injured in rail collision in the south of the country

At least 32 people were killed and 66 others injured in the midday collision of two passenger trains in Sohag, about 460 kilometers south of Cairo, on Friday, the health ministry said in a statement.

According to a video filmed near the scene of the accident and widely reported by local media, several cars overturned on their side.

Frequent train accidents?

Health Minister Hala Zayed is on her way to the scene of the accident “to monitor the state of health of the injured,” according to an official statement. The prosecution announced that it had opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the 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. In February 2019, another accident aroused the stir of the population: a train was embedded in a wall of the Ramses central station in Cairo, causing an explosion and a fire in which about twenty people had died.

As Ever Given continues to block the Suez Canal

This collision in Sohag comes as Egypt faces another major transportation challenge: a 400-meter-long container ship blocks the Suez Canal, a crucial route for international sea freight to the east of the country .