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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Train carrying army recruits crashes in Egypt, 17 killed

CAIRO (Reuters) - A military train carrying young recruits to army camp derailed in a Cairo suburb on Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring 103, Egypt's health ministry spokesman said.

The train was travelling from Upper Egypt to Cairo when it derailed in the Giza neighbourhood of Badrashin, a security source said, adding the train was a military vehicle carrying conscripted youth on their way to an army camp.

People walk around the wreckage of a military train crash in the Giza neighbourhood of Badrashin, about 40 km (25 miles) west of Cairo January 15, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
People walk around the wreckage of a military train crash in the Giza neighbourhood of Badrashin, about 40 km (25 miles) west of Cairo January 15, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

The injured passengers were taken to hospitals, Ahmed Omar, the health ministry spokesman, told the state news agency MENA. There was no further information available about the 17 dead.

Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record, and Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce even basic safeguards, leading to a string of deadly crashes.

In November, at least 50 people, mostly children, were killed when a train slammed into a school bus as it crossed the tracks at a rail crossing south of Cairo, further inflaming public anger at Egypt's shoddy transport network.

(Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Lisa Shumaker)

Copyright © 2013 Reuters

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