A total of 40 people died and 120 injured when two trains collided head on in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in Egypt, media reports said.

Television reports also showed pictures of bodies covered with bed sheets at the site, and some carriages were shown to be derailed because of the collision, reported Wam, the Emirates official news agency.

In recent years, Egypt has seen several rail tragedies.

Its worst rail disaster was in 2002, when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing over 360 people, the report said, citing the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.