At least seven people, including a train conductor, were killed and 125 others injured after two passenger trains collided south of Egypt's capital Cairo on Sunday, authorities said.
The Health Ministry confirmed the casualties in a statement, adding that more than 70 injured passengers had been released from hospitals after receiving medical treatment.
The accident took place in al-Ayyat district of Giza province, around 52 kilometres (32 miles) south of Cairo, when a train bound for the southwestern province of Fayoum crashed into the rear of another train heading towards the southern province of Aswan, according to the Transportation Ministry.
The office of the Chief Prosecutor said investigators had arrived at the scene late Sunday to examine the circumstances surrounding the accident.
An initial inspection suggested that the Giza-Fayoum train struck the last carriage of the Cairo-Aswan train, which was stationary on the same track and moving in the same direction, officials said.
Ayman Gamal, a resident of Kafr Girza village in al-Ayyat, said local residents rushed to the accident site, helped rescue passengers and contacted emergency services.
He said he saw ambulances carrying around 80 injured people to nearby hospitals. Some passengers were trapped inside a carriage of the stationary train and were found dead when rescuers pulled them out, he added.
Survivors receiving treatment at al-Wasta Central Hospital in Beni Suef province said passengers were left traumatised and struggled to breathe because of dust generated by the collision. Local villagers eventually helped them escape from the wreckage.
Farha Gamal, a passenger on the Fayoum-bound train, said she saw several people who appeared to have died, while others desperately tried to find their way out of the damaged carriage.
"Some of the other carriages were completely mangled," she said.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in a social media post that he had ordered an immediate investigation into the accident.
The Egyptian Railway Authority said emergency response teams and cranes had been sent to the scene to remove the wreckage and restore normal train services as quickly as possible.
Train accidents and derailments remain a recurring problem in Egypt, where the railway network has long faced criticism over poor management and inadequate maintenance. The government has announced several modernisation initiatives in recent years.
In September, a train driver and his assistant were injured when two freight trains collided in the same district.
Egypt's deadliest railway disaster occurred in 2002, when a fire broke out on an overnight train travelling from Cairo to southern Egypt, killing more than 300 people.