32 people were killed and 165 injured when two trains collided in central Egypt on Friday. According to health ministry officials, Egypt's rail network desperately needs upgrading.

According to the rail authority, "unknown persons" activated the emergency brakes on one of the trains, making the second train, which was traveling in the same direction, collided with the first from behind.

President Abdel-Fattah Al Sisi expressed his condolences to the victims of the crash and pledged that those responsible will be kept accountable. In a tweet, he said, "Anyone who caused this painful accident by incompetence, corruption, or anything similar must receive a deterrent penalty without exception or delay." According to state television, Sisi also instructed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to accompany the ministers of health and social solidarity to the crash site.

Sisi promised harsh punishment for those responsible for the accident, which occurred as his government grappled with yet another major transportation issue: a massive container ship blocking the Suez Canal, creating massive traffic jams on both ends. After the two trains collided, hundreds of ambulances rushed to the scene in the Tahta district of Sohag province, some 460 km south of Cairo, according to the health ministry.

According to the announcement, "32 people were killed and 66 people were wounded" and were taken to the hospital. A huge crowd gathered around an overturned carriage that was lying on its side. An AFP correspondent claimed that springs and twisted metal protruded from the rubble of another.

Images from the scene were shown on local television, showing overturned wagons with passengers trapped inside and surrounded by debris. Some of the victims seemed to be unconscious, while others were bleeding. Bystanders took bodies to the crash scene, where they were laid out on the grass.

It is shared in a statement that at least two carriages overturned between the stations of Maragha and Tahta. One train ran between Luxor and Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, while the other ran between Cairo and Aswan in the south. As the investigation advances, Health Minister Hala Zayed traveled to Sohag to check on the wounded.

Egypt's rail network is one of the region's oldest and largest, and accidents involving fatalities are frequent. In 2002, a fire ripped through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train, killing 360 people in the country's worst train accident.