Over two dozen killed, tens wounded in Egypt’s road crashes Sunday

Over two dozen were killed and tens wounded in separate road accidents in Egypt Sunday, the country’s health ministry and Al-Ahram Arabic said.

At least 16 people were killed and 21 wounded in a massive multi-vehicle crash on a highway near the governorate of Beni Suef, about 120 kilometres south of Cairo, Khaled Megahed, Egypt’s health ministry spokesman, told Ahram Online.

Photos shared online of the accident showed a large number of mangled vehicles, including trucks and trailer trucks. Initial reports suggest the crash was caused by dense fog.

Another accident occurred when a train travelling from Upper Egypt ran over a vehicle while crossing the railtrack in Giza’s Al-Ayyat district, some 70 kilometres south of Cairo, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Medics say five others injured in the crash are in critical condition.

Egypt’s railway system is operated manually, with watchmen responsible for the opening and closure of crossings — an unsafe and error prone practice that has caused dozens of deadly accidents over the years.

In a third incident, two people, aged 22 and 25, were killed in an accident involving a tuk-tuk (an auto rickshaw) and a truck in the Nile Delta governorate of Beheira, Al-Ahram reported.

Sunday’s accidents are the latest in thousands of deadly road crashes that take place yearly in Egypt, notorious for poor road safety, badly maintained infrastructure, and loosely enforced traffic regulations.

The country’s official statistics agency said in December that over 2,800 people were killed in road and train crashes in Egypt in the first half of 2015.

source: Ahram Online