CAIRO - At least 29 people were killed and 30 others injured when a freight train crashed into a number of vehicles near the Egyptian capital of Cairo in the early hours of Monday, official newspaper Al Ahram reported on its website.

The train was on its way from Beni Suef to Giza when it hit a minibus, a truck and some other vehicles near the town of Dahshur, about 40 km south of Cairo, the report said.

Ambulances have rushed to the scene to transfer the bodies and the injured to nearby Haram Hospital, it said, adding that the train driver and his assistant were detained.

Initial investigations showed that the passengers aboard the minibus are of a big family that were returning from a wedding ceremony in Cairo.