Egypt train crash kills at least 36 near Alexandria

Egypt train crash kills at least 36 near Alexandria Television pictures show bodies on the ground - as a security source says a track switching error is the most likely cause.

Image: The crash happened close to the port city of Alexandria in northern Egypt

At least 36 people have died and 123 are injured after two trains collided near Alexandria in Egypt, making it the country's worst rail accident in a decade.

Authorities said a train travelling from Cairo hit the back of another waiting at a small station in the Khorshid district, just west of Alexandria.

Footage showed dozens of people crowding around the damaged carriages, with bodies on the ground.

Some people were left trapped in the wreckage, a medical official told state television.

Image: One train is said to have smashed into another one waiting at a station

Image: Some people were left trapped in the mangled carriages

The events leading up to the crash at 2.15pm local time are unclear, but a security source said a track switching error was the most likely cause.


The stationary train had just arrived from Port Said, a city on the northern tip of the Suez Canal, according to the Egyptian Railways Authority.

The public prosecutor has ordered an urgent investigation.

Official figures from Egypt's statistics agency show there were 1,249 train accidents in the country last year.

Image: Security forces sorted through the twisted metal of the trains

The blame for the terrible safety record is mostly attributed to badly maintained equipment and poor management.

The Alexandria accident is the worst since a 2006 collision between two commuter trains near Cairo, which killed 51.

But that pales in comparison to the 370 or more who died when a massive fire swept through an overcrowded train going from Cairo to Luxor in 2002.