At least 8 people are killed when a passenger train slams into a minibus in Egypt

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CAIRO (AP) — A train slammed into a minibus that was crossing the tracks in an unauthorized location in norther Egypt on Thursday, killing at least eight people and leaving 12 injured, the government said.

The crash took place in the Suez Canal province of Ismailia, the health ministry said. More than a dozen ambulances were sent to the scene.

The Egyptian railway authority said the passenger train was on its regular route when the collision occurred. The place where the minibus was going over the railway tracks is not designated for crossing.

Local Egyptian news outlets said the victims, who included children, were all taken to East Qantara Central Hospital. One child was reported to be in critical condition.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly ordered the payment of 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,970) to the family of each victim killed in the crash, a local government media office said. It shared photographs from the scene of the crash, showing a crushed red minibus and scattered school notebooks and backpacks.

Train derailments and crashes are common in Egypt, where an aging railway system has also been plagued by mismanagement. Last October, a locomotive crashed into the tail of a Cairo-bound passenger train in southern Egypt, killing at least one person. In September, two passenger trains collided in a Nile Delta city, killing at least three people.

In recent years, the government has announced initiatives to improve its railways. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in 2018 that some 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $8.13 billion, would be needed to properly overhaul the neglected rail network.