At least 49 people killed in train crash in Egypt's Alexandria

At least 49 people were killed and dozens others injured on Friday when two trains collided in Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria, according to Egypt's state T.V.

The deadly incident reportedly took place in the Khorshid district on Alexandria's outskirts.

Thirty ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the accident while local health authorities have reportedly declared a state of high alert.

In a previous statement Hegazi Magdi, health deputy minister said 40 people had been killed and another 133 injured.

Egypt has seen several rail accidents in recent years, due largely to what critics describe as mismanagement and antiquated infrastructure.

* Onlookers gather at the scene of a train collision just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, two trains collided killing dozens of people and injuring over 100 in the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade. (AP)

Egypt has seen several rail accidents in recent years, due largely to what critics describe as mismanagement and antiquated infrastructure.

State television, citing transport ministry officials, reported that the crash was probably caused by a malfunction in one of the trains that brought it to a halt on the rails.

* Paramedics evacuate a victim of a train collision in the area of Khorshid, in Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria, on August 11, 2017. (AFP)

The other train then crashed into it.

The dead and injured were initially placed on blankets by the sides of the tracks amid farmland on the outskirts of the Mediterranean city.

Wadi told state television that most of the injured have been taken to hospital.

* People gather at the site of a train collision in the area of Khorshid, in Egypts Mediterranean city of Alexandria, on August 11, 2017. (AFP)

It was the deadliest train accident in the North African country since a November 2013 collision between a train and a bus killed 27 people south of Cairo.

In 2002, 373 people died when a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital.

* Army attend the scene of a train collision just outside Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, (AP)