At least 69 people were injured Thursday after a passenger train crashed into a concrete block south of Cairo causing it to derail and two of its cars to overturn, an Egyptian Health Ministry official said.
Deputy Health Minister Gamal Al Gohry was quoted by an Egyptian state-run news agency as saying that the accident occurred early Thursday morning near the Bani Sueif province south of Cairo, as the train was headed to Cairo from the temple city of Luxor, according to the AFP.
"Fifty-eight people were treated for their injuries and discharged, while the rest are under observation in hospital," Al Gohry added.
An unidentified security official was quoted as saying that the train hit a concrete block while trying to avoid a second train heading in the opposite direction, causing it to derail. After the collision, the front part of one of the carriages was lifted several meters up into the air, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The train conductor was also reportedly arrested, though it's not immediately clear why.
Train and vehicles accident due to negligence in safety standard enforcement are common in Egypt and the situation has reached a point where citizens have sparked anti-government protests in light of it, according to Al Jazeera.
In 2015, a train and school bus collided northeast of Cairo, leaving at least seven people dead. Three years prior to that, another train crashed into a school bus in Cairo as it tried to cross the tracks, killing 50 people. However, the deadliest example of this occurred in Feb. 2002, when a fire ripped through a train south of Cairo, killing 370 people that were trapped on board.
