12 Killed, Dozens Injured After Bus Carrying Students Crashes in Egypt

A bus carrying university students crashed in Egypt on Monday, killing 12 and injuring dozens, according to the country’s health ministry.

The bus, which was en route from the Faculty of Medicine of Galala University in Egypt’s eastern Suez governorate to Cairo, overturned on Al-Galala Road on Monday resulting in 12 fatalities with 33 people injured.

According to local media outlets, including the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, the students were returning from their classes to their dormitory in Ain Sokhna resort when the accident happened on the new Galala highway.

While the ministry has not yet revealed what caused the accident, the privately-owned pro-state Sada al-Balad news channel said on its website that initial investigations had concluded the bus driver was speeding and lost control over the vehicle.

In addition, state-owned newspaper Akhbar al-Youm reported that no other vehicle was involved in the accident, and investigations were underway to determine the bus’ speed and other circumstances when it crashed.

In response to the crash, the Egyptian Ambulance Authority dispatched 28 equipped ambulances to the scene to transport the victims and injured to the Suez Medical Complex, according to the ministry.

The incident has since prompted Dr. Ismail El Hefnawy, director of the Suez Healthcare Authority, to declare a state of emergency.

Egyptian Minister of Health Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar and Minister of High Education Ayman Ashour have both expressed their condolences to the families of the students.

In a statement made on TV, Suez Governor Tarek El-Shazly said the bus collided with the street island in the middle of the road, Al-Ahram reported.

According to Gulf Today, a daily English-language newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, the ministry had at first reported a preliminary count of 25 individuals injured and seven fatalities from the incident.

Local authorities are continuing to assess the situation and investigate the crash.

This latest incident comes as road accident injuries in Egypt have increased in recent years as speeding, bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws have led to collisions. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), road accident injuries in Egypt increased by 8.7 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. In addition, CAPMAS reported that road accidents left 7,101 people dead in Egypt in 2021, a 15.2 percent increase compared with 2020.

In response to these incidents, the government has implemented a plan to expand and upgrade the country’s road network and improve road safety measures to reduce road mishaps, according to Al-Ahram.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.