(Photo by Mohamed Omar\DNE)
A crash involving a school bus, a lorry and a car on the 169 km of the Egypt–Alexandria road in Beheira governorate has left up to 18 dead and 18 injured.
“All the cars were torched and 14 students were burned as a result while 18 others are in critical case,” a health ministry official told state-run television. “The casualties are now held in the Damanhour general hospital.”
The Egyptian armed forces sent a medically equipped aeroplane to transfer and rescue the casualties.
Eyewitnesses told state run Al-Ahram that the casualties included a child and a woman who were in the private vehicle, and students from the Orman Tourism School.
The prosecutor general is interrogating the school bus driver and some of the injured if their health condition allows it.
The Ministry of Social Solidarity doubled the humanitarian assistance for the victims and their families. Minister of Social Solidairty Ghada Wali directed the Social Solidarity Directorate in Beheira to help the injured and the families of the deceased, according to a Wednesday statement by the ministry.
A recent government report said that 100,000 car accidents took place in Egypt between 2008 and 2012, with 33,000 killed and another 150,000 injured.
In 2012, a train in the Manfalout area of Assiut collided with a school bus, killing dozens of children.
