Military train derails in Egypt, killing 19

Reuters

CARRYING CONSCRIPTS: People walk around the wreckage of a military train crash in the Giza neighbourhood of Badrashin.

Relevant offers

Middle East

Hezbollah attacks draw Israel into Syria conflict Bombs in Iraq kill at least 76 Palestinians mark West Bank anniversary Syrian rebel eats heart of regime soldier A good night's sleep vital for Netanyahu Injuries after quake strikes Iran Yemen kidnappers free Finnish couple, Austrian Syrian rebels hold UN peacekeepers for safety Libyan Defense Minister resigns in protest Syrian rockets hit Israeli-occupied land

A military train carrying young recruits to an army camp has derailed in a Cairo suburb, killing 19 people and injuring 107, Egypt's health ministry spokesman says.

The train was travelling from Upper Egypt to Cairo when it derailed in the Giza neighbourhood of Badrashin, a security source said, adding that the train was a military vehicle carrying conscripted youth on their way to an army camp.

The injured passengers were taken to hospitals, Ahmed Omar, the health ministry spokesman, state news agency Mena reported.

There was no further information available about the identities of the dead except the names of the hospitals to which their corpses were sent, Mena said.

"The Egyptian Ambulance Authority has sent 66 ambulance cars to the site of the accident to move the bodies of the injured and the corpses of the victims to hospitals," Omar told Mena.

Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record, and Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce even basic safeguards, leading to a string of deadly crashes.

In November, at least 50 people, mostly children, were killed when a train slammed into a school bus at a rail crossing south of Cairo, further inflaming public anger at Egypt's shoddy transport network.

- Reuters