Egypt revises number of dead in Sohag rail crash from 32 to 22

Cairo: Egypt’s Health Minister Dr Hala Zayed has said that 22 people were killed in yesterday’s rail crash in a final tally.

The accident occurred in the governorate of Sohag, about 460 kilometres south of Cairo, where a passenger train rammed into another, causing four couches to flip over.

In the wake of the mishap, the Health Ministry said 32 people were killed in the crash. But on Saturday, Dr Zayed said after examination, the toll was lowered to 19 complete dead bodies and three bags of body parts.

“After verification and medical follow-up, it was found that previously reported death cases were in coma,” she told a press conference in Cairo.

Some 185 other people were injured, 90 per cent of them have left hospitals.

Three seriously injured people were transferred to Cairo to receive medical treatment at the Nasser Hospital.

They have sustained multiple fractures and piercing wounds that need surgical interventions, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said.

The National Railway Authority said that the Sohag crash happened after unknown individuals turned on emergency brakes installed on rail cars, causing one train to stop.

Following the accident, President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi vowed “deterrent punishment” to be meted out against those responsible for the crash.

In the aftermath of a deadly train crash in 2019, Egypt stepped up its efforts to overhaul its rickety rail service.

Egypt’s worst rail accident happened in 2002 in which at least 350 people were killed.