At least 13 wounded as two passenger trains collide in Egyptian capital

CAIRO: At least 13 people were injured when two passenger trains collided Thursday in the Egyptian capital, the health ministry said, triggering a suspension in nationwide rail services.

It said the casualties were ferried to hospitals, while the rail authorities said that services were suspended across Egypt.

The government had declared Thursday a holiday because of heavy rains and strong winds.

In the accident involving passengers from Upper Egypt, one train crashed into the other, which was stationary, the rail services said.

Egypt's rundown railways have a history of disasters.

In February 2019, a hurtling locomotive crashed, derailed, and caught fire at Cairo's main train station, killing more than 20 people.

Officials often blame the rail network's poor maintenance on decades of negligence and a lack of funds.

The deadliest accident on Egypt's railways was in 2002 when 373 people died in a fire that ripped through a crowded train south of the capital.