On Sunday, the Al-Ayat area in Giza Governorate, south of Cairo, witnessed a collision between two trains that killed 7 people and injured 112 others, including 71 who left hospitals after receiving treatment. The collision led to a number of vehicles overturning, while rescue teams used heavy cranes to extract them and reach the stranded passengers.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 01:17

Seven people were killed and 112 others were injured on Sunday after two trains collided in the Al-Ayat area in Giza Governorate, south of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, which led to a number of cars derailing, according to what the authorities announced.

The Egyptian National Railway Authority explained that the accident occurred when a train heading from Giza to Fayoum collided with the rear of another train that was traveling from Cairo towards Aswan.

For its part, the Ministry of Health announced the transfer of 112 injured people to hospitals around Giza, noting that the injuries included fractures in the limbs, pelvis, and vertebrae, wounds in the head and face, and bruises in the chest and ribs. It confirmed that 71 injured people were discharged from hospitals after receiving treatment and their health condition improved.

In his first comment on the incident, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi confirmed that he was following it “with great interest,” indicating that state agencies were directed to provide medical care for the injured, and to expedite the investigation to uncover its circumstances and hold those responsible accountable for any negligence.

The collision site witnessed rescue operations in which local residents participated, along with emergency teams and railway workers, in an attempt to reach the passengers stuck inside the overturned carriages.

Abdul Wahed Muhammad (31 years old), who was sitting in a nearby café at the time of the accident, said that 6 vehicles overturned as a result of the collision, indicating head injuries and broken limbs.

In turn, Ahmed Musa (25 years old) reported that the rescue teams had to dig under one of the overturned cars to reach the trapped passengers, whom he described as being “piled on top of each other,” adding that he saw two women among the victims.

Another witness, Taha Abdel Tawab (43 years old), narrated that he saw a young man getting off the train carrying his father’s body.

Heavy cranes to lift vehicles

The rescue teams used cranes and heavy machinery to return the overturned vehicles to their normal position, in conjunction with transporting the injured in ambulances to nearby hospitals, while residents of the area gathered to follow the rescue operations, which continued until the evening.

A local resident, Reda Kamel Libi, criticized the delay in rescue operations due to poor transportation infrastructure in the area, noting that one of the victims was a resident of a neighboring area.

Pictures showed paramedics and passers-by helping to extract one of the victims from the rubble and placing her in a body bag.

The authorities announced the opening of an investigation to determine the causes of the collision in the Al-Ayat area, which has witnessed bloody train accidents over the past decades.

In 2002, a fire that broke out on a train south of Cairo killed more than 370 people, in one of the worst railway disasters in Egyptian history. The region also witnessed other accidents in 2009 that claimed dozens of lives.

The Egyptian railway network is one of the oldest train networks in the Middle East, and is used by about one million people daily, but it witnesses frequent collisions and train derailments.

Although Egypt has spent billions of dollars over the past decade on developing transportation infrastructure, including highways and high-speed train lines, large parts of the old railway network still need modernization.

France 24/AFP

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