CAIRO: Seventeen people drowned when a bus fell off a ferry into the Nile River in Beni Souif, security officials said.
Police officials said five were still missing after 10 were rescued.
They told AFP that the ferry was carrying a bus loaded with 32 passengers who were on their way to visit a graveyard. The rest of the passengers survived, they said.
A security official told Associated Press that the bus slid off the ferry and sank because the emergency brake was not on. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The official news agency, MENA, said 22 drowned, revising an earlier death toll down from 43.
It said that the bus plunged into the river when the ferry crashed into the shore.
State television reported that rescue workers were looking for more victims and had transferred survivors to hospital.
The accident happened almost a year after five people drowned when their ferry capsized in the Nile in the suburbs of Cairo.
Transport accidents are common in Egypt and are often blamed on poor maintenance and neglect.
