Passengers die in Egypt train collision

[John Ashworth]

Passengers die in Egypt train collision

At least 14 dead and 25 wounded in accident outside of Cairo

* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 24 October 2009 19.52 BST


Two passenger trains have collided on tracks outside of Cairo killing at least 14 people, according to reports.

At least 25 others have been wounded in the accident, which occurred in Girzah district of 6th of October province, a police official said.

Emergency personnel are working to extract the wounded and dead from the trains.

The train that caused the collision was headed from Cairo to the southern city of Assuit, while the one that was hit was travelling from Giza province to the oasis town of Fayoum, said Egypt's official Middle East News Agency.

Egypt has a poor safety record on its railways, and there are several fatal accident each year, usually blamed on poorly maintained equipment.

The worst recent disaster took place in February 2002 when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing 363 people.