Railways movement suspended after 2-train collision due to heavy rains

CAIRO - 12 March 2020: Egypt's railways movement was suspended due to bad weather, Thursday according to Egyptian National Railways statement.

The announcement comes shortly after two-rain collision between Imbaba and Ramsis railways stations, of which 13 passenger were injured and no deaths recorded.

Seventeen ambulance were sent to the crash location according to health Minster spokesperson Khaled Megahed, as all wounded were hospitalized and most injuries were diagnosed as simple bruises.

One of the trains apparently collided into the other by accident due to the unstable weather and heavy rains.

Egypt's Minster of Transportation Kamel al-Wzeir headed to the crash location and ordered investigating the accident to detriment the real reasons behind the collision, according to official statement.

It was added that the collision took place meters away of Ramsis station, which is also known as Misr Station (main railway station of Cairo).

Egypt has been hit with bad weather with extremely heavy rains and accompanied by sandy winds, thunder and low temperatures nationwide. This unstable wave of weather would last until Saturday.

A total of 31 trees and 16 electricity towers and a minaret of a mosque have fallen, while 5 houses collapsed in the governorate.

The state of emergency was declared on Thursday, which was also declared a paid holiday to avoid traffic in the streets.

The government urged people to stay home and not to park near trees or in a low area, as the rain may amount to 60-70 millimeters, which exceeds the infrastructure's capacity in most cities.