At least seven people have died in a train crash near the Egyptian city of Giza, with more than 100 injured.
The country’s railway authority said two trains travelling south from Giza and Cairo collided, causing several carriages to derail and fall down an embankment.
Images from the scene showed people looking inside overturned carriages for injured passengers as a massive emergency response was launched.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said he had ordered state authorities to “investigate the circumstances of the accident, and hold accountable anyone found to have been negligent”.
Getty ImagesThe government said hospitals in the area had been put “on heightened alert” as they dealt with a massive influx of patients.
Egypt’s health minister Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said people were being treated for broken bones and head injuries.
The driver of one of the trains was among those who died in the crash, the ministry confirmed.
The first train involved in the crash was travelling from Giza to Fayoum, south of Cairo, when it crashed into the rear of another service heading south from Cairo to Aswan, which was stationary on the tracks.
Images from the scene showed some carriages had overturned, with the body of at least one appearing to have split in two.
Getty ImagesTrains between Giza and the Upper Egypt region were suspended as cranes were dispatched to remove the wrecked trains.
The collision occurred in the area between Kafr Ammar and Al-Raqqa stations in Al-Ayyat, close to where Egypt’s deadliest train tragedy occurred in February 2002, when a fire engulfed a passenger train travelling from Cairo to Luxor.
The train continued for around nine kilometres (5.6 miles) before coming to a halt.
In that incident, more than 370 people were officially reported killed, although some estimates put the toll considerably higher.
Two further crashes in the area in 2009 killed dozens more.
There were calls in Egypt on Sunday for the transport minister to resign over the latest deadly rail disaster.
