Two trains collided on Sunday in Egypt's Giza governorate, killing seven people and injuring 112, the country's health ministry said. A train on the Giza-Fayoum route struck the rear of a Cairo-Aswan train. The crash site lies between the Kafr Ammar and Al-Raqqa stations, and the authorities sent emergency teams and cranes to clear the tracks.
Forty-five of the injured have already been discharged after their condition improved, and seven more are expected to leave hospital soon. The remaining patients are still under medical observation. In the rescue and evacuation work, 72 ambulances were deployed, and the injured were moved to hospitals in Giza and Beni Suef. Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar ordered hospitals to raise their state of readiness to handle the casualties, placing the medical system on heightened alert in the hours after the collision.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi offered condolences to the families of the dead and injured in a post on Facebook. He ordered a swift investigation into the accident and said that anyone found to be negligent would be held accountable. The statement made clear that the government intends to establish responsibility once the inquiry has examined the circumstances of the crash.
The cause of the collision has not yet been established, and no one has yet been identified as responsible. The accident has renewed attention on Egypt's rail network, which has long been criticised for outdated equipment and weak management. The deadliest rail disaster in the country's recent history was the 2002 fire at Ayyat, which killed more than 380 people. Whether the problems that have long affected the network played a part in Sunday's collision is a question the investigation is expected to answer.
Source: punjabnewsexpress.com
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