At least 69 injured in train crash in Egypt

At least 69 people were injured when a train derailed and two of its cars overturned, as it was travelling north towards Cairo on Thursday, an Egyptian Health Ministry official said.

The accident happened early in the morning near the southern city of Beni Suef, Gamal el-Gohari told Egypt's state-run news agency.

The MENA news agency quoted an unidentified security official as saying that the train hit a cement wall while trying to avoid a second train heading in the opposite direction, causing two of its compartments to overturn.

The agency also said that the train conductor was arrested.

Railroad accidents due to negligence are comparatively frequent in Egypt. Egyptians have long complained that the government has failed to deal with the country's chronic transport problems.

Adel Turk, Egypt's head of roads and bridges, told local press last week that pot-holed roads were safer as they force drivers to slow down, and blamed fog for the huge number of road accidents on the country's roads. 

Egypt's worst railway disaster came in February 2002, when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing 363 people.