DAHRUT: At least 52 Egyptians were killed when their bus plunged into a canal south of Cairo on Sunday in the deadliest road accident in Egypt in two decades, officials said.
At least 60 people were in the public bus when it swerved into the canal to avoid an oncoming truck as it traveled on the main highway connecting Cairo to Minya, a security official said.
Fifty-two bodies have been recovered, the official told AFP, adding that 10 passengers were taken to hospital with injuries.
Many university students were among the dead, and rescue workers were searching the waters of the Ibrahimiya canal for survivors and victims, the official said.
Minya Governor Ahmed Diaa initially put the toll at 36. But rescue efforts continued hours after the crash and a security official later said that more bodies were pulled out of the waterway. The rest were hospitalized in the Maghagha General Hospital.
A prosecution team is on the scene investigating the accident.
Police have detained both the truck driver and the bus driver for questioning, a police official told AFP.
At least 20 ambulances rushed to the crash site along with local residents offering their help after the accident near the village of Dahrut, about 200 km south of Cairo, an AFP correspondent reported.
The governor said that the government would pay LE 10,000 to the families of the deceased and LE 3,000 to the injured.
Poor road conditions and lax traffic regulations in Egypt cause thousands of accidents every year and a new highway code came into force in August with the aim of improving road safety.
Road accidents kill about 6,000 people and cause 30,000 injuries each year, also because of poor upkeep of vehicles, according to the transport ministry.
Last week, 15 Coptic students were killed when their bus overturned while travelling from Minya to the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
Eight people, including six schoolgirls, were killed in September when a truck plunged into a river in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya. -Agencies with additional reporting by Emad El Sayed.
