Middle East News

Twelve killed, 39 injured in Egyptian tour bus crash (Roundup)

Mar 31, 2009, 14:28 GMT

Cairo - At least 12 people were killed and 39 others injured when a tour bus crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, police and medics said on Tuesday. All of those killed or injured in the crash were Egyptians on their way to the port of Nuweiba, from whence many planned to continue to Jordan to look for work, police told the German Press Agency dpa. Most of the wounded were rushed to hospitals in Nakhil, in central Sinai, medics said. But five of the injured passengers were in critical condition and were rushed to a larger hospital in Suez. Police said that there was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, which took place on the Naqab-Nakhil road in Egypt's South Sinai province. Winds frequently drive sand over the Nakhil road, making driving at high speeds particularly hazardous. Tuesday's accident was the second involving a tour bus in Egypt in as many weeks. On March 18, eight German tourists and an Egyptian tour guide were injured when a tourist bus overturned near the southern Egyptian city of Aswan. According to Cairo's government-funded al-Ahram Weekly newspaper, the rate of accidents on Egyptian roads is 34 times higher than in Europe and three times higher than in neighbouring states. According to government figures, each year some 6,000 people die and 30,000 are injured in traffic accidents in Egypt.

Middle East News

Twelve killed, 39 injured in Egyptian tour bus crash (Roundup)

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