Cairo, March 8 (IANS) The casualty toll of the train derailment on Tuesday night in Qalyub, an Egyptian city about 23 km north of the capital Cairo, has risen to four killed and 23 injured, the authorities said on Wednesday.
All the wounded had been transferred to three national hospitals, 11 of whom were released after receiving necessary treatment, according to the Egyptian health ministry, Xinhua news agency reported.
The train went through the “closed semaphore” at the Qalyub Train Station in Qalyubia Governorate and headed toward a blocked railway before colliding with the protection at the end of the railway, the Egyptian National Railways said in a statement on Tuesday.
As a result, the locomotive and the first carriage were derailed, the statement said, adding the Egyptian Transport Ministry formed a committee to investigate the accident.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Public Prosecutor also ordered an investigation into the Qalyub train collision.
Egypt’s railway system has long been troubled by poorly maintained equipment and poor administration, which frequently results in train derailments and crashes. At least 32 people were killed in a train collision in 2021 in Tahta, a city in southern Egypt. Later that year, a train derailed in Qalyubia, killing 11.
