Egypt struck by new train tragedy

At least ten passengers have died and more than a dozen injured in the latest fatal train crash to hit Egypt, which has been plagued by a number of similar tragedies in recent years.

Disaster struck when a freight train collided with a passenger train in the northern Egyptian province of Behaira, resulting in 15 injuries.

The causes are not clear, but Egypt's aging rail infrastructure has been blamed for similar disasters in the past.

Health ministry official Alaa Othman told state television that "all the wounded and dead have been removed from the scene of the accident".

Egyptian National Railways Minister Sayed Salem is travelling to the site of the wreckage.

More than 40 passengers were killed in a train crash near Alexandria in August, while 27 people died in a similar accident in 2013.

Egypt's deadliest train incident happened in 2002, when a fire ripped through packed carriages killing more than 360 passengers.

Last year, Egypt's Transport Minister Hisham Arafat accepted that the country's aging railways were part for the tragedy.

"In order to avoid it, we have to develop the infrastructure," he told state television," he said on television at the time.

Arafat ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the crash.

Agencies contributed to this article