Image copyright EPA Image caption The crash is the deadliest train accident in the North African country since November 2013

Two passenger trains have collided in northern Egypt, killing at least 41 people and injuring more than 120 others, health officials say.

A number of carriage were derailed by the accident in the coastal city of Alexandria.

Reports said one of the trains had been brought to a halt after a malfunction. Transport Minister Hisham Arafat blamed "human error".

Deadly train accidents in Egypt are rare but not unheard of.

The trains, one travelling from the capital Cairo and the other from Port Said, crashed at about 14:15 local time (12:15 GMT).

One resident, Hoda, was standing on her rooftop when she saw the trains crash.

"They rose in the air forming a pyramid when they collided. I started to scream from the rooftops for people to grab some sheets and run," she said.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The causes of the crash are still not known

Image copyright AFP Image caption Alexandria is a popular destination for tourists in Egypt

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered an investigation into the accident, and the government promised financial compensation to the families of the victims.

The accident is likely to trigger fresh anger over the mismanagement and poor conditions of the country's transport system, BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher reports.

In 2013, dozens of people were killed and when a train crashed into a minibus and other vehicles south of Cairo.

Egypt's deadliest rail accident occurred near the capital in 2002, when a fire ripped through a crowded train killing more than 370 people.</s>Two trains collided in Egypt’s Alexandria city on Friday, killing 42 people and injuring at least 133, Reuters reported. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered an inquiry into the crash, which took place at 2.15 pm Egypt time (5.45 pm Indian Standard Time) on Friday.

The Egyptian Railway Authority said the accident, which occurred near Khorshid station at the border of Alexandria, derailed the engine of one train and two carriages of the other. Egyptian Transport Minister Hisham Arafat said “human error” led to the collision. “In order to avoid it, we have to develop the infrastructure,” he said.

People living close to the scene of the tragedy reported that the two trains “rose in the air” following the collision. “They [the trains] rose in the air forming a pyramid when they collided,” a resident, Hoda, who was standing on the rooftop of her house said. “I started to scream from the rooftops for people to grab some sheets and run.”</s>Two trains have collided in Alexandra, Egypt, killing at least 21 people and injuring 55, according to officials and the state-run news agency MENA.

More to come</s>At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more are injured after two trains crashed into each other in Egypt today.

The deadly collision happened in the northern coastal city of Alexandria and left 55 wounded, officials say.

Shocking pictures have emerged showing the mangled wreckage of the trains and the dead and injured lying on the ground nearby.

Medics and officials say as many as 21 have been killed in the crash. The cause of the disaster is not yet clear.

At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more are injured after two trains crashed into each other in Alexandria, Egypt today</s>At least 36 died and some 120 others were injured on Friday when two trains collided in the suburbs of the Egyptian city of Alexandria, local media reported citing medical and security sources.

The previous death toll stood at 28 people killed and 74 others injured.

According to the Youm7 portal, 22 injured people have been hospitalized in local clinics, while the exact number of casualties is being determined.</s>An Egyptian official says that a train collision in the coastal city of Alexandria has killed 25 people and injured 65 others.

The head of the ambulance services in the city's western sector, Dr. Mohamed Abu Homs, says the collision took place in the western suburb of Khorshid on Friday.

There was no immediate information on what had caused the collision.

The trains collided head on; one train was coming from Cairo and the other was coming from the city of Port Said, at the Suez Canal.

Abu Homs says he fears the death toll and the number of injured could rise further.</s>(CAIRO) — Two passenger trains collided on Friday just outside Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing at least 36 people and injuring about 123, according to the Health Ministry, in the country's deadliest rail accident in more than a decade.

A statement by the Egyptian Railways Authority said a train traveling to Alexandria from Cairo, Egypt's capital, crashed into the back of another train, which was waiting at a small station in the district of Khorshid, just east of Alexandria.

The stationary train had just arrived from Port Said, a Mediterranean city on the northern tip of the Suez Canal, when it was hit, according to the statement.

The statement did not say what caused the accident, saying only that the authority's experts would be investigating.

Associated Press video footage from the scene showed mangled train coaches on the tracks as hundreds of onlookers and victims' relatives gathered around on both sides of the tracks.

Ambulances were standing by and riot police were deployed to keep the onlookers away from the scene of the disaster.

Egypt's railway system has a poor safety record, mostly blamed on decades of badly maintained equipment and poor management.

Friday's collision was the latest in a series of deadly accidents that have claimed hundreds of lives over the years. Figures recently released by the state's statistics agency show that 1,249 train accidents took place last year, the highest number since 2009 when the number reached 1,577.

Friday's accident was the deadliest rail accident since 2006, when at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.

And earlier, in 2002, a massive fire engulfed a train filled with local holiday travelers. The train sped for miles, with flames engulfing one carriage after another, killing more than 370 people.

In November 2012, a speeding train crashed into a bus carrying Egyptian children to their kindergarten in the country's south, killing more than 50 — mostly children between the ages of four and six. Two months later, at least 19 people died and more than 100 were injured in a train derailment south of Cairo.</s>Two passenger trains collided on Friday just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people, according to authorities, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade.

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — Two passenger trains collided on Friday just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people, according to authorities, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade.

Magdy Hegazy, a top health official in Alexandria, said that along with the 43 killed, the crash also injured 122 people.

The Egyptian Railways Authority said earlier that a train coming from Cairo, Egypt’s capital, crashed into the back of a train that was waiting at a small station in the district of Khorshid, just east of Alexandria.

The stationary train had just arrived from Port Said, a Mediterranean city on the northern tip of the Suez Canal, when it was hit, according to the statement.

The statement did not say what caused the accident, only that the authority’s experts would investigate.

Associated Press footage from the scene showed mangled train coaches on the tracks and several others derailed as hundreds of onlookers and victims’ relatives gathered around on both sides of the tracks.

Ambulances were standing by and riot police and soldiers were deployed to keep the onlookers away from the scene of the disaster. Residents from nearby homes rushed to the scene to look for survivors inside crushed train carriages or offer first aid to the injured.

An eyewitness who lives close to the crash site said he and others ran toward the site when they heard the sound of the impact.

“We ran to the scene and we found people jumping from the train and lots of dead,” said Abdel-Bari Abdel-Hamid.

By nightfall, cranes aided by floodlights began to remove the wreckage off the tracks to allow rail traffic to resume. Rescue teams, meanwhile, continued to look for more bodies and injured passengers inside the carriages.

Egypt’s railway system has a poor safety record, mostly blamed on decades of badly maintained equipment and poor management.

Friday’s crash was the latest in a series of deadly accidents that have claimed hundreds of lives over the years. Figures recently released by the state’s statistics agency show that 1,249 train accidents took place last year, the highest number since 2009 when the number reached 1,577.

Friday’s accident was the deadliest rail accident since 2006, when at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.

And earlier, in 2002, a massive fire engulfed a train filled with local holiday travelers. The train sped for miles, with flames engulfing one carriage after another, killing more than 370 people.

In November 2012, a speeding train crashed into a bus carrying Egyptian children to their kindergarten in the country’s south, killing more than 50 — mostly children between the ages of four and six. Two months later, at least 19 people died and more than 100 were injured in a train derailment south of Cairo.</s>CAIRO (REUTERS) – Two trains collided in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria on Friday (Aug 11) killing 24 people and injuring more than 55 others, two security sources and one medic said.

The crash near the Khorshid station between Alexandria and Cairo route derailed the engine of one train and two cars of the other, state news agency Mena said.

State newspaper al-Ahram said 28 bodies had arrived at hospital morgues in Alexandria province.

Public prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered an urgent investigation, it said.

The health ministry put its preliminary toll at 20 dead and 84 wounded.

Footage from the scene broadcast on state television showed dozens of people crowding around the damaged train cars, with dead bodies strewn on the ground.</s>At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a collision involving two passenger trains in northern Egypt, health officials say.

One train was travelling from Cairo and the other from Port Said when they hit head-on in the northern coastal city of Alexandria, local media report.
Two trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt, killing at least 41 people and injuring at least 179.