At Least 18 Killed in School Bus Crash in Egypt

VOA News
5 November 2014 (8:45AM)

At least 18 people, mostly children, were killed on Wednesday when a school bus crashed into three other vehicles on a desert road in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, state television and local media reported.

Photos published online by privately-owned news outlets showed the bus engulfed in flames and later reduced to a charred metal frame, suggesting many of the victims were burned alive.

AP quorted an official as saying the bus hit a hole in the road, causing the fuel truck to rear-end it and igniting a fire. A private car and a trailer subsequently crashed into the two.

Eighteen people were also wounded in the crash and transported to hospital, a local health ministry official told Reuters.

The new deaths come just three days after another crash on Sunday killed 11 female university students in Sohag, southern Egypt. That accident sparked protests by fellow students.

Wednesday's accident came less than a month after 30 people died in a bus crash in southern Egypt. Hundreds die and thousands are wounded every year in Egyptian road accidents, often caused by reckless driving and poor roads.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.