At least 32 dead, 66 injured as two trains crash in southern Egypt

Two trains have collided near the Egyptian city of Sohag, killing 32 people and injuring at least 66 others. The country's prime minister is chairing a crisis meeting in response.

Dramatic footage showed people trying to rescue passengers trapped inside the twisted wreckage outside Sohag, some 300 miles south of the capital, Cairo.

Some passengers who had escaped were seen lying on the ground injured.

At least 36 ambulances were sent to the site of the crash and took victims to local hospitals, the health ministry said in a statement.

Three carriages were derailed as one train crashed into the back of another, although the exact cause of the accident has not yet been reported.

The Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly has chaired a crisis meeting, Al Jazeera reported.

The news outlet also said the Minister of Transport, Lieutenant General Kamel al-Wazir, has ordered that the drivers of both trains be detained.

It comes after another crash two years ago at Cairo's Ramses Station killed 24 people and caused an explosion and a fire.

In 2017, Egypt saw some 1,793 train accidents, according to the most recent data.

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