Updated | Tragedy in Egypt as train collides with school bus, 47 reported dead

Egypt's official news agency said 40 children died, however a doctor at a hospital in Assiut, near the crash site, said the death toll was 47, among them 37 children. The children were reportedly aged between four and six years.

"They told us the barriers were open when the bus crossed the tracks and the train collided with it," doctor Mohamed Samir said, citing witness accounts.

He said four children and two women were seriously injured in the accident in the city of Manfalut, near Assiut, some 190 miles south of the capital.

President Mohamed Mursi ordered his ministers to offer support to the families of those killed.

The governor of Assiut, Yahya Keshk, has ordered an inquiry. Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record.

Egyptians have complained that successive governments have failed to enforce basic safety.