At least 15 people died and 40 were injured died in North Egypt on Wednesday when freight train collided with a passenger train in Beheira province. Health Ministry official Alaa Othman said “all the wounded and dead have been removed from the scene of the accident”, Al Jazeera reported.
State television showed at least two derailed carriages. Civilians were seen helping rescue workers move the injured from the site to ambulances.
The cause of the collision is not clear yet. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has ordered Transport Minister Hesham Arafat to visit the site of the accident and take action as soon as the cause is ascertained, a cabinet statement said, according to Al Jazeera.
Egyptians have long complained of poor railway infrastructure and the lack of government efforts to make improvements. In August, 41 people died in a train collision near the city of Alexandria. It was the worst train accident in Egypt since November 2013, when 27 people died in a collision between a train and a bus near Cairo.
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