Monday 20 January 2014

19 dead in Upper Egypt road crash


Nineteen people have died in a collision involving a truck and a minibus on a rural highway in southern Egypt, a local health ministry official has said.

State news agency MENA said the accident took place late on Sunday near the city of Edfu, north of Aswan. The bus was en route to Cairo.

Five children were among the dead, and at least one was injured, health ministry official Mohamed Azmy confirmed.

In mourning for the dead, the provincial governor has cancelled Aswan's National Day festivities, which fall on the week starting 15 January.

The celebrations mark the inauguration anniversary of the Aswan High Dam, one of the biggest projects in Egypt's modern history.

Largely blamed on lax enforcement of traffic laws and poorly developed roads, traffic accidents are very common in Egypt.

Five people died last week in a road accident in the southern governorate of Qena.

Around 12,000 people die annually on Egypt's roads, according to a 2012 World Health Organisation (WHO) report.

Egypt is one of ten countries listed in the WHO Road Safety project to be conducted over five years by a consortium of six international partners.

Monday 20 January 2014

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/92002/Egypt/Politics-/-dead-in-Upper-Egypt-road-crash.aspx

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