Timeline: 2 trains collided in Beheira leaving 15 dead

CAIRO – 28 February 2018: Two trains collided in Beheira governorate killing at least 15 people and wounding 40 others on Wednesday, according to the transport minister’s spokesperson, Mohamed Ezz.

Eyewitnesses reported that two separate passenger train carriages swerved out of the railways and crashed into a cargo train. Egypt Today presents a timeline of the accident updates.

2:13: Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat ordered the formation of a technical committee to investigate the accident, while all hospitals stood ready in anticipation of the wounded passengers.

2:37: Chief of Egyptian National Railways, Sayed Salem, headed to the accident's site to closely follow up the rescue works and investigations.

2:50: Prime Minister Sherif Ismail is following up the latest developments of a collision between a passenger and a cargo train in Beheira earlier Wednesday. The premier directed the minister of transport to travel to the site of the accident and follow up the situation on the ground, added the statement. The prime minister also urged an immediate handling of the consequences of the crash.


3:09: Beheira governor Nadia Ahmed Abdo headed to the accident's site to closely follow up the rescue works and investigations.

3:17: Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly has issued instructions calling for the formation of a special team to manage the tragedy of the train collision in Behira governorate. The team will be in charge of writing reports on the death cases and offering support and assistance to their families and providing the injured with all the care that they need.

3:17: Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar announced the highest state of preparedness at teaching hospitals in Tanta, Alexandria and Kafr El Sheikh to treat the wounded in coordination with the Ministry of Health.

3:19: Amgad Abdel Hamid, director of the ambulance facility in Menoufia, sent 12 ambulances from Menoufia governorate to help in aiding survivors.

3:21: MP Mohammad Badawi Desouki said that the committee on transport has called on the Minister of Transportation Hesham Arafat, to stand on the details of the accident.

3:27: Egypt's Attorney General Nabil Sadeq sent members of the Attorney General to the accident’s site to conduct the necessary inspection; searching for the causes of the accident and the responsible.

3:38: Majid Al-Qamari, president of the University of Kafr El-Sheikh, stated that the university’s hospital was equipped to receive any special cases and casualties of the train accident.

4:23: Health ministry spokesman Khalid Mujahid declared that the number of people who have died and injured in a train crash haven’t yet been specified.