Egypt's Sisi pledges action as train collision kills 32

A collision between two trains killed at least 32 passengers and left more than 100 injured on Friday in Egypt.

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi pledged tough punishment for those responsible for the crash, which came as his government wrestles with another major transport challenge, a giant container ship blocking the Suez Canal.

“Anyone who caused this painful accident through negligence or corruption, or anything similar, must receive a deterrent punishment,” Al Sisi tweeted.

Camera footage showed a carriage being violently thrown into the air in a cloud of dust when a speeding train rammed into another. Springs and twisted metal jutted out from the wreckage. Harrowing images from inside one of the carriages showed men and women screaming for help as they tried to free themselves from the wreckage.

Egypt’s rail authority said the crash occurred after unidentified passengers had “activated emergency brakes in several carriages” on one of the trains.

A statement said one train hit the last carriage of the other, causing at least two carriages to overturn between the stations of Maragha and Tahta.

One of the trains was travelling between the southern city of Luxor and Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, while the other was on the way between Cairo and the southern city of Aswan.

Health Minister Hala Zayed travelled to Sohag to check on the injured, as authorities opened an investigation.

Egypt has been plagued with deadly train accidents in recent years.

One of the deadliest was in 2002 when 373 people died as a fire ripped through a crowded train south of Cairo, and there have been many fatal crashes since.