By Agencies

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An Egyptian passenger train has derailed and caught fire in a suburb near Cairo, leaving a number of people dead and injured, security and medical sources said.

A security official said the train, coming from the town of Sohag, 500km south of the capital, crashed into a stationary train near the suburb of El-Badrasheen 30km from Cairo.

Five carriages were overturned.

Several deaths and dozens of injuries were reported, but further details on the exact number of casualties were not immediately available.

The railway system's poor safety record has long been blamed on badly maintained equipment and poor management.

Egypt's worst railway disaster took place in February 2002 when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing 363 people.

In August 2006, a passenger train barreling toward a station collided with a second train, killing 58 people.