CAIRO: The bus accident that killed nine tourists near the Red Sea resort of Hurghada on Friday was caused by speeding and violations by the tour companies, Red Sea Governor Magdy El-Qabeisy said.
The governor told state TV Sunday morning that there was no backup driver as specified by regulation. The tour companies also got different tourist groups to ride on the same bus, which was also in violation of regulations.
El-Qabeisy said he had contacted the Minister of Tourism to take action against the responsible companies, especially the one that owned and operated the bus.
“Three of the dead were Russians”, the state-run agency MENA said on Friday, adding that police were investigating Friday’s crash to determine the nationality of the other victims. Another Russian was reported dead later on Sunday.
In Kiev, the foreign ministry said that two Ukrainians were killed in the accident.
"According to preliminary information that we received from our diplomats in Egypt, two Ukrainians were killed and two others were injured in the accident," ministry spokesman Oleksandr Dikusarov told AFP by telephone.
The other passengers on the bus, which was carrying 30 people at the time of the accident, all suffered injuries, MENA reported.
The tour bus flipped over several times on the winding mountain road. The driver lost control of the bus because he was driving to fast on the highway and the vehicle rolled over, an official told the Associated Press on Saturday, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The governor said that transferring the injured to the modest Ras Ghaleb Hospital helped save many lives. Twenty-five ambulances rushed to the accident site, he added.
The seriously injured were airlifted to hospitals in Cairo around 500 kilometers away.
The governor said that 3,000 tourist trips take this road every month, transporting 100,000 tourists. The trips are safe and the violations are rare, he added.
Road accidents are common in Egypt because of bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic rules. An estimated 8,000 people die in car accidents annually.
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An injured tourist is assisted as he arrives at Hurghada hospital for treatment after a tourists bus rolled over several times during a road accident near Hurghada. (AP Photo)
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An unidentified tourist is transported at the hospital in Hurghada, Egypt, early Saturday Nov. 20.(AP Photo)
