Train crash in Egypt's Beni Suef province injures 69 people

Thursday 11-02-2016 AM 10:48
Train crash in Egypt's Beni Suef province injures 69 people
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CAIRO, Feb. 11 (Aswat Masriya) - A train crash in the Beni Suef province left at least 69 people injured on Wednesday night, a representative for the ministry of health said.

Gamal al-Gohary, the ministry of health's representative in Beni Suef, told the state-owned MENA news agency that the injured have been admitted to hospitals in the province.

The train was heading to Aswan and later to Cairo before it flipped over after crashing into a cement garar.

One eyewitness told Aswat Masriya that the train crashed into a buffer as it was about to reach its next stop. "The train slowed down, which lessened the extent of the catastrophe, it already slows down gradually before it gets to the stop," the eyewitness added.

Police officers arrested the driver.

Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered that an investigation be opened into the crash.

Egypt has experienced various train crashes in the past decade. Roads and railways in Egypt have a poor safety record. The transport network has come under attack in 2012 when 50 people, mostly children, were killed after a train crashed into a school bus south of Cairo.

In 2013, a train crashed into a pickup truck and a minibus, killing at least 20 people and injuring 20 more. 

Critics have often claimed that authorities arrest drivers instead of paying closer attention on improving infrastructure. 

The country's worst train disaster was in 2002 when a fire ripped through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train, killing at least 360 people.

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