Close to 100 people injured in train accident north of Cairo

FILE PHOTO: People gather around the wreckage of two trains that collided in the Tahta district of Sohag province, some 460 kms (285 miles) south of the Egyptian capital Cairo. /Getty Images

At least 32 people were killed and 109 others were injured following a train accident north of the Egyptian capital Cairo on Sunday, according to

Al-Arabiya

, aSaudi-based broadcaster.

Several victims are trapped underneath overturned carriages, it said, citing an eyewitness, following the incident in Toukh, a small town in the Nile Delta about 40 kilometres outside the capital.

More than 55 ambulances were deployed to treat the injured, the Health ministry said, and investigators were dispatched to investigate the cause of the accident.

Eight carriages had overturned,

Al-Arabiya

reported quoting the governor of Qalyubia.

Local media reports said the Minister of Health Hala Zayed was headed to the scene of the accident.

Egypt was the first country in Africa to introduce the railway. However, accidents on its railway system are a common occurrence, especially in the last three decades, due in part to poor maintenance and lack of investment.

Last month, two trains crashed in the Tahta district of the southern Sohag province, killing 18 people and injuring 200 others.

The worst accident in the North African country's history occurred in February 2002 in El-Ayyat, south of the capital Cairo, when a fire broke out in a train traveling from Cairo to Luxor killing more than 360 people.

(With input from agencies)