CAIRO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were killed on Friday when a train collided with a private car at an unauthorized railway crossing in Egypt's eastern province of Suez, authorities said.
The accident occurred in the Shaloufa area of El-Ganayen district, east of Cairo, when a train traveling on the Suez-Ismailia line struck a car that was "illegally" crossing the tracks, the Suez Governorate said in a statement.
The crash sparked a fire, which civil defense forces managed to extinguish.
The public prosecution has launched an investigation into the accident.
Egypt's railway network has long struggled with outdated equipment and poor management, leading to frequent accidents. The country's deadliest rail disaster occurred in 2002, when a fire on a Cairo-Luxor train in Giza's Ayyat district killed over 380 people.
