Over 40 people have died with at least 40 injured when a train crashed into several vehicles on a railway crossing in northern Egypt yesterday.
According to the official MENA news agency, the train ploughed into vehicles at the Foka level crossing near the Mediterranean coast city of Marsa Matrouh, about 430km northwest of the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
The Egyptian minister of transport Mohamed Mansour blamed the tragedy on the excessive speed of a trailer which pushed three vehicles into the path of the oncoming passenger train, he told Egyptian TV.
Two cabins of the train overturned and another two were derailed according to the minister.
The death toll is expected to rise since some of the 40 injured are in serious conditions after being transferred to a number of local hospitals.
Two years ago, a train crash killed 58 people and injured scores more in the Nile Delta town of Qalyoub, north of Cairo.
In 2002, 360 people were killed when fire ripped through seven carriages of a crowded passenger train.
By staff writer
