Fifty people, mostly children, were killed in Egypt when a train slammed into a school bus as it crossed tracks in a city south of Cairo.

All but two of the dead were children, aged around four to eight.

One woman and a man, thought to be the bus driver, also died.

According to state TV, the railway crossing was open when the train hit the bus.

The crossing worker was asleep. He has been detained.

Transport Minister Mohamed Rashad submitted his resignation after the accident.

In a televised address, President Mohamed Mursi accepted Rashad's resignation and offered his condolences to the victims of the crash.

He said that those responsible for the accident would be held to account after an investigation.

Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record and Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce even basic safeguards, leading to frequent, deadly crashes.