</s>Cairo: At least 15 people were killed and 40 others injured today when a passenger train collided with a freight train in Egypt, officials said, the latest deadly rail accident in the North African country.

The passenger train collided with the goods train near Kom Hamada station in northern Behira governorate.

At least 15 people were killed and 40 others injured in the accident, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known. The passenger train was en route to Alexandria while the cargo train was heading to Cairo, local media reported.

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

Deadly accidents have claimed hundreds of lives over the years. According to latest figures by the state’s statistics agency, 1,249 train accidents took place last year, the highest since 2009 when the number reached 1,577.

In August, 43 people died in a train collision near the coastal city of Alexandria. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.</s>At least 15 people were killed in train collision in northern Egypt, the health ministry said.

Another 40 people were hurt in the collision between a freight train and a passenger train in Beheira province, it said in a statement.

Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce basic safety measures for the railways. A string of crashes have further inflamed public anger over the antiquated transport network.

Footage aired by state television showed at least two carriages had derailed in a rural stretch of land. Civilians and medics were seen removing injured passengers and carrying them to ambulances.

Health ministry official Alaa Othman told state television "all the wounded and dead have been removed from the scene of the accident".

The cause of Wednesday's crash was not immediately clear. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail ordered Transport Minister Hesham Arafat to visit the scene and take action as details of the causes of the accident emerge, a cabinet statement said.

The crash comes months after 41 people died in a train collision near the coastal city of Alexandria last August.

That was the deadliest train accident in Egypt since a November 2013 collision between a train and a bus killed 27 people south of Cairo.

In 2002, 373 people died when a fire ripped through a crowded train, also south of the capital.

Figures recently released by the state's statistics agency show that 1,249 train accidents took place last year, the highest since 2009 when the number reached 1,577.</s>CAIRO: Two trains collided Wednesday in northern Egypt killing at least 10 people and injuring 15 others, the health ministry said, the latest in a string of deadly rail accidents in the country.



The crash between a freight train and a passenger train occurred at Kom Hamada in Behaira province.

Footage aired by state television showed at least two carriages had derailed in a rural stretch of land. Civilians and medics were seen removing injured passengers and carrying them to ambulances.

Health ministry official Alaa Othman told state television that all casualties had been removed from the scene of the accident.

The provincial governor Nadia Abdou told AFP that the crash happened at around 1045 GMT and that its cause was "unknown".

She pointed out that the ministry of transport and national railways were in charge of the rail facilities in the region.

The state prosecutor announced that a team of investigators had been dispatched to probe the accident.

While the cause of the crash remains unclear, it comes months after 41 people died in a train collision near the coastal city of Alexandria last August.

The train drivers who survived that accident were detained for questioning.

That was the deadliest train accident in Egypt since a November 2013 collision between a train and a bus killed 27 people south of Cairo.

It came a year after a train smashed into a bus carrying school children, killing 47 people.

That accident jolted the government which ordered an investigation and sacked the transport minister and the head of the railway authority.

It was blamed on a train signal operator who had fallen asleep on the job.

The probe, however, did not prevent further accidents. Months later a train carrying military conscripts derailed, killing 17 people.

Egyptians have long complained that the government has failed to deal with chronic transport problems, with roads as poorly maintained as railway lines.

The deadliest accident on Egypt's railways dates back to 2002 when 373 people died as a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital.

There have been many other fatal crashes on the busy rail network.

In July 2008, at least 44 people died near Marsa Matruh in northwest Egypt when a runaway truck hurtled into a bus and several other vehicles waiting at a level crossing, shunting them into the path of a train.

In August 2006, at least 58 Egyptians were killed and 144 injured in a collision between two trains travelling on the same track.

In the wake of that crash, an Egyptian court sentenced 14 railway employees to one year in prison for neglect.</s>CAIRO -- Egypt's state-run news agency says a train collision in coastal Beheira province has left 10 people dead and 15 others injured.

Wednesday's report by the MENA news agency quotes the spokesman of the Health Ministry as saying the collision took place in the town of Kom Hamada.

There was no immediate information on what caused the collision between a cargo train and a passenger train. The passenger train was heading to Cairo.

Megahed says he fears the death toll and the number of injured could rise.</s>Two passengers trains have rammed into a freight train in Beheira province in the North of Cairo, according to Egypt Today news.

Rescue teams and thirty ambulances are working at the scene.

Nineteen people have died and forty more injured, according to Health Ministry.

The cause of the accident is still unclear, but it comes months after 41 people died in a train collision near the coastal city of Alexandria last August.

That was the deadliest train crash in Egypt since a November 2013 collision between a train and a bus that killed 27 people south of Cairo.

In 2002, 373 people died when a fire ripped through a crowded train, also south of the capital.</s>A passenger train has collided with a cargo train in Egypt, killing at least 12 people, including a child.

A passenger train has collided with a cargo train in Egypt, killing at least 12 people, including a child.

Another 39 people were injured in the crash, which took place in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, according to the state-run MENA news agency.

The Health Ministry said the trains were both bound for the country’s capital. Egypt’s railway system has a poor safety record, mostly blamed on decades of poor management and maintenance.

People gather at the scene of the collision (AP Photo/Mostafa Darwish) President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi has spoken about the need to modernise the railway system to prevent deadly accidents and improve services. Last year he said 180 billion Egyptian pounds were needed to overhaul the network, suggesting that ticket prices should be raised. Deadly accidents have claimed hundreds of lives over the years.

In August, two passenger trains collided just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo. In 2002, a massive fire broke out on a train filled with holiday travellers. 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 children to their nursery school 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 in a train derailment south of Cairo.</s>Authorities said two trains collided in Egypt’s Nile Delta province of Beheira on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people.

The ministry said 21 others were injured in the collision.

The accident took place when two carriages of a passenger train broke off and rammed into a nearby goods train, the Egyptian news portal al-Youm al-Saba reported, citing the province’s security chief.

Transport Minister, Hesham Arafat, left Cairo to visit the site of the collision, state-run newspaper al-Ahram said.

Egypt has seen several railway tragedies in recent years.

In August, more than 40 people were killed in a collision between two passenger trains in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria.

In the aftermath, the chief of the country’s state-run railways authority resigned and the government promised to upgrade the service.

Egypt’s worst rail disaster took place in 2002 when a passenger train caught fire, killing more than 360 people. (dpa/NAN)</s>At least 12 people died and another 20 were injured on Wednesday when a Egyptian passenger train collided with a freight train in the village of Kom Hamada in the northern province of Beheira, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

The accident occurred when two passenger carriages disconnected from the rest of the train and collided with a freight train, the cause of which is still unknown, Health Ministry Spokesman Khaled Megahed was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying.</s>CAIRO — A passenger train collided with a cargo train in Egypt on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people, including a child, in the latest deadly accident involving the country’s underfunded and mismanaged railways.

Another 39 people were injured in the crash, which took place in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, according to the state-run MENA news agency. The Health Ministry said the trains were both bound for the capital.

READ MORE: Lethbridge building hit by train for 2nd time

MENA earlier reported that the collision killed 15 people and injured 40, before revising its toll downwards.

Mahmoud Goma saw the collision. He said he and other local residents loaded injured people into their cars to take them to the hospital, and that some died on the way.

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

President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi has spoken about the need to modernize the railway system to prevent deadly accidents and improve services. Last year he said 180 billion Egyptian pounds (about $10 billion) were needed to overhaul the network, suggesting that ticket prices should be raised.

WATCH: TSB calls for safer railway crossings after N.B. man in wheelchair killed by train

Deadly accidents have claimed hundreds of lives over the years.

In August, two passenger trains collided just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.

In 2002, a massive fire broke out on 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 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 in a train derailment south of Cairo.
A collision between a passenger and a cargo train in Beheira, Egypt kills 15 people and injures 40 more.