UPDATED: 18 Killed, 18 Injured in School Bus Crash in Egypt’s Beheira

Eighteen people were killed and 18 injured on Wednesday morning when a school bus hit a truck in Beheira governorate in the Nile Delta, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

A school bus carrying students from Al-Orman Hotel and Tourism high school, a private vehicle and a truck carrying wood collided on the Alexandria agricultural road near Abu Hummus town.

The deputy to the minister of interior for transportation told Ahram Arabic news website that the bus driver attempted to dodge a car only to hit another vehicle and the truck which led to the explosion of its gas tank.

Also on Wednesday, a truck collided with a tour bus in Kafr Al-Zayat in the central Nile Delta, setting the bus on fire and leaving two dead and 18 injured.

Road accidents are recurrent across Egypt due to lack of road maintenance and loosely implemented traffic laws.

On Sunday, 10 Sohag University students, in Upper Egypt, died in an accident on Kawamel road.

A recent government report said that 100,000 car accidents took place in Egypt from 2008 to 2012, with 33,000 killed and another 150,000 injured.

In 2012, a major school bus incident, that crashed with a train, killed over 50 students in Upper Egypt’s Assiut sparking anger nationwide.

Source: Al-Ahram Online