Egypt's Public Prosecution ordered the detention of the drivers and assistant drivers of two passenger trains on Tuesday, pending investigation into Sunday's collision south of Cairo that killed at least seven people. The office said the inquiry would examine possible negligence. The collision also injured more than 100 passengers.

The two trains collided about 76 kilometres south of the capital on Sunday, on the main line linking Cairo with Upper Egypt. Egypt's Health Ministry said ambulances took the injured to nearby hospitals, where several remained in a serious condition. The line carries millions of passengers a year between the Nile Valley cities and the capital.

The Public Prosecution said in a statement that investigators had inspected the crash site and seized signalling and communications logs from the nearest stations. The statement said prosecutors were questioning signal operators and station staff alongside the train crews. It added that technical committees would report on whether human error or equipment failure caused the crash.

Egypt's Transport Ministry said compensation would be paid to the families of the dead and to the injured, in line with previous disasters. The ministry said Egyptian National Railways had cleared the wreckage and restored traffic on the affected stretch. Opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives filed requests to question the transport minister over rail safety.

Egypt has suffered a series of deadly rail accidents, including a 2021 collision in Sohag that killed at least 18 people. The government has spent billions of dollars on new rolling stock and electronic signalling since then. Sunday's crash renewed questions about how far those upgrades have reached on the busiest southern routes.