Nearly 100 hurt in Egypt train accident: Health ministry

Cairo - The train was heading from Cairo to the Nile Delta city of Mansoura and derailed about 40 kilometres north of Cairo

A train accident north of Cairo on Sunday left 97 people injured, Egypt’s health ministry said, in the latest rail calamity to hit the North African country.

The ministry said “97 citizens were injured in a train accident in Toukh”, a small farming town in the fertile Nile Delta about 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside the capital.

No deaths were reported.

A security source told AFP eight carriages came off the rails as the train headed north towards the city of Mansoura.

Over 55 ambulances were dispatched to treat the injured, the ministry said, and investigators have been sent to assess the accident’s cause.

The security source said the driver and other rail officials had been detained for questioning.

Egyptian rail disasters are generally attributed to poor infrastructure and maintenance.

At least 20 people died and 199 were injured last month in a train crash in the country’s south, according to the latest official toll, which authorities have revised several times.

The prosecution alleged last week that the driver of one train and his assistant had both left the driver’s cabin when it crashed into another train.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to hold to account those responsible for the latest of several deadly train accidents in recent years.

The African Development Bank announced earlier this month a $170 million loan to improve safety on Egypt’s rail network.

• Egypt