Death toll in Egypt's train crash rises to 15

CAIRO -- The death toll of the train crash that took place in Beheira province northern the capital Cairo on Wednesday has risen to 15, official MENA news agency reported.

"The number of victims of Beheira train crash mounted to 15 dead and 40 wounded so far," MENA quoted Transport Ministry's spokesman Mohamed Ezz as saying.

Transport Minister Hesham Arafat hurried to the accident place to follow up the developments, according to the Egyptian state TV.

Beheira security chief Alaa El-Din Abdel-Fattah explained earlier on Wednesday that the accident took place as two cabins derailed from a passenger train and hit a cargo train in Kom Hamada district of Beheira.

Health Ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed said that more than 30 ambulances have rushed to the crash scene to move the wounded people to nearby hospitals.

"They raised alert to utmost degree in the province's hospitals of Damanhour, Wady al-Natroun and Kafr al-Dawwar to receive any cases," Megahed said in the statement.

Egypt's public prosecutor assigned an engineering committee to find out the reasons behind the crash.

Egypt witnessed a number of deadly train accidents over the past few years in which hundreds were killed and wounded.

Last August, the collision of two trains in the coastal province of Alexandria northern Cairo left at least 49 dead and more than 100 injured.