At least 32 commuters lost their lives and 63 others were injured early Saturday in a multiple-vehicle crash in northern Egypt, authorities said.
The crashes occurred on the stretch of the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road near the Wadi El-Natrun region, about 80 miles northwest of Egypt’s capital, Cairo, Egypt’s Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Khaled Abdul Ghafar, said in a statement. The crashes reportedly involved public transportation buses and cars, some of which caught fire, per the statement. The Ministry of Health provided 20 ambulances to transport the injured to hospitals, the Ministry said in a separate statement.
A Cairo-bound bus ran into a parked vehicle in the foggy early-morning weather, according to the Associated Press (AP). Other cars then collided with the bus, leading to a pileup of 29 vehicles, the outlet reported.
A multi-vehicle crash in Egypt’s Beheira governorate kills 28 and wounds 60 others pic.twitter.com/LuTJoFWYmp
— Daily News Egypt (@DailyNewsEgypt) October 28, 2023
A Daily News Egypt video of the crash scene shared on X (formerly Twitter) shows a column of smoke rising from the burning pileup, blocking traffic on that lane of the divided highway. Another video on X showed people pushing two wrecked vehicles away from the scene as vehicles plied other lanes. (RELATED: Man Allegedly Crashes Car Through Fence At Airport And Starts Driving Next To Runway)
Each family of the deceased will receive E£ 60,000 (about $1,950), Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity said in a statement on the incident. The Ministry also promised support for the injured and their families based on the extent of injury and disability resulting from the crash.
Egypt has a poor transportation safety record, with fatal crashes resulting from speeding, bad roads or inadequate enforcement of traffic laws claiming thousands of lives each year, per the AP.
There were 7,762 deaths from Egyptian road crashes in 2022, up six percent from 7,326 deaths in 2021, Egypt’s leading newspaper, Al-Ahram, reported. A total of 55,991 Egyptian road users were reportedly injured in 2022, compared to 51,511 in 2021, per the outlet.