Two passenger trains collide south of Cairo, killing four and injuring 88 in the district of Egypt’s worst rail disaster

Two passenger trains collided on Sunday morning in Egypt’s Giza province, killing at least four people and injuring 88, the Ministry of Health and Population said.

The Egyptian National Railways Authority said a train travelling from Giza to Fayoum struck the rear of a train running from Cairo to Aswan, between Kafr Ammar and al-Raqqa stations in the al-Ayyat district, about 52 kilometres south of the capital. Several passenger carriages derailed. The Transport Ministry said one train came off the tracks but did not say which.

Three of the dead died in hospital and one at the scene, the health ministry said. Seventy-two ambulances took part in the rescue, carrying the injured to hospitals in Giza and Beni Suef governorates. Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar ordered hospitals in both provinces onto a higher state of readiness.

Who is investigating?

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi sent condolences to the victims’ families in a post on X and ordered a swift investigation, saying those responsible must be held accountable. Officials from the Prosecutor General’s Office are examining the cause. No cause had been announced by late Sunday, Egyptian time.

The railways authority sent emergency crews and cranes to clear the wreckage and said it was working to restore services in both directions as quickly as possible. The line through al-Ayyat is the main route south from Cairo along the Nile valley towards Upper Egypt.

Why does al-Ayyat matter?

The district carries a grim place in Egypt’s history. In February 2002, a fire tore through a crowded Cairo-to-Luxor train near al-Ayyat and killed more than 370 people, the country’s worst rail disaster. Al-Ayyat has seen further collisions since, including one in 2009, and more recently two freight trains collided in the district, injuring a driver and his assistant.

What questions will investigators face?

Sunday’s crash was a rear-end collision between two passenger trains on the same track, the kind of accident that modern signalling and train-control systems are designed to prevent. How two trains came to be on the same stretch of track, and why the second could not stop in time, are the obvious questions for investigators; officials have not yet said what they have found.

Egypt has a long record of deadly rail accidents. In March 2021, two trains collided near Sohag in Upper Egypt, killing at least 32 people. Each major crash has brought promises of investment and accountability, and Sisi’s call for those responsible to be held to account puts this one in the same frame.

Is the toll final?

The health ministry’s figures were four dead and 88 injured as of Sunday evening, Egyptian time, a figure it had already revised upwards once. Some Egyptian media reported higher injury numbers, which officials have not confirmed.

What should travellers know?

The Cairo-Luxor-Aswan line is also the route many international visitors use to travel along the Nile. There has been no report of foreigners among the dead or injured. Services through al-Ayyat were disrupted while crews cleared the line, and anyone booked on Nile valley trains should check with Egyptian National Railways before setting out.