Egypt Train Collision Kills 44, Injures 180 

At least 44 people were killed and nearly 180 others injured after two trains collided near Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria.

The deadly collision took place on Friday after a train travelling to Alexandria from Cairo, crashed into the back of another train coming from the Canal city of Port Said, which was waiting at a small station in the district of Khorshid, east of Alexandria. The area of the collision has been cordoned off by security forces as a rescue team is currently searching for survivors over the night and removing the wreckage off the tracks, it said.

The driver of the Cairo-Alexandria train has surrendered himself to police and has been transferred to El-Raml police station in Alexandria for investigation. Egypt's prosecutor-general Nabil Sadiq has ordered an urgent investigation into the collision to find out the reason behind the crash.

President El-Sisi has expressed his condolences to the victims and ordered government bodies to follow up on developments from the deadly collision and identify the cause of the accident.

Train accidents are common in Egypt. Some of the recent train mishaps are:

• In 2016, a train derailed in south of Cairo, killing five people, and injuring 27 people in the al-Ayat area.
• Another train derailment in Badr Rashin in Giza killed at least 19 people in 2013.
• In 2012, a collision between a train and school bus on a rail crossing in the town of Manaflut in Upper Egypt killed 51 people, mostly children.
• At least 360 people were killed in 2002 in Egypt's worst train disaster when a major fire engulfed seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train.