At least 32 people were killed and 165 injured when two trains collided in central Egypt on Friday, health ministry officials said, as the prime minister admitted the country's rail network urgently needed modernizing. 

The country's railways authority said unidentified individuals stopped one of the trains using emergency brakes, causing a second train, which was travelling in the same direction, to crash into the first one from behind.

At least 74 ambulances were sent to the scene to transfer the wounded to four public hospitals nearby.

The public prosecutor's office said it had ordered an investigation into the crash, which took place close to the Nile-side town of Tahta, about 365 kilometres south of Cairo.  

(With input from agencies)