Egypt rail crash kills three including two children

Two children were among three people killed when two trains collided Saturday in northern Egypt, the health ministry and state media said.

It was the latest in a series of deadly accidents to hit Egypt’s extensive rail network, which has been beset by ageing infrastructure and mismanagement.

Another 49 people were injured in the crash, which happened in Zagazig, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Cairo, the ministry said on its Facebook page.

State-owned newspaper Al-Ahram said two children were among the dead.

Transport Minister Kamel el-Wazir said in a television interview that the cause of the collision was “the human element, but what exactly we leave to the security services to determine”, adding there had been no technical issues.

Egypt’s 105 million people depend heavily on rail transport, but the network — one of the largest on the African continent — has suffered repeated deadly accidents.

In 2021, two accidents within less than a month killed more than 40 people.