30 people have died and 66 people are injured as two trains had collided in southern Egypt, AP reported, citing health authorities.

Local media has shared footage from the scene of the accident.

Egypt's rail system is poorly maintained and poorly managed. According to official figures, there were 1,793 rail accidents in 2017.

In 2018, a passenger train derailed near the southern city of Aswan, injuring at least six people.

In the same year, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi announced that the government lacked about 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $ 14.1 billion, to overhaul the dilapidated rail system.

A year earlier, two passenger trains collided near the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed in a collision between two commuter trains near Cairo.

The deadliest disaster in Egypt occurred in 2002 when more than 300 people were killed in a fire that erupted on a high-speed train en route from Cairo to southern Egypt.