School bus crashes in Egypt

Wednesday's crash involving a school bus, a fuel tanker and two passenger vehicles near the Nile Delta city of Damanhur killed at least 17 people and injured 18, some of them seriously, police and hospital officials said. The fire completely gutted the bus, which had been transporting teenagers to their school about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Cairo.

One of the pupils who survived the crash said the bus had been behind schedule, and that the bus driver explained "there was a problem" with the vehicle. "I was sitting in the back of the bus when the accident happened, and I jumped out of a window," the child told the private Egyptian CBC Extra in a telephone call from the hospital on Wednesday.

Provincial governor Mustafa Hadhud told Egyptian television that the bus had skidded after torrential rains struck the region. Medics said they pulled three charred bodies, including that of a police officer, out of a sedan also involved in the crash.

'Decisive measures'

With roads poorly maintained and traffic rules often unenforced, Egypt can prove a dangerous place for transit. Road accidents cause an average of nearly 12,000 deaths a year in Egypt, according to the World Health Organization.

After Wednesday's crash, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi ordered the prime minister to visit the scene. He also gave instructions for the injured to be treated in military hospitals. A Cabinet statement promised "decisive measures to confront road accidents."

Some of the deadliest accidents have sparked protests and accusations of government negligence. On Sunday, 11 female university students died in a collision in the south of Egypt. That accident sparked protests by fellow students in Sohag province.

Wednesday's accident also came less than a month after 30 people died in a bus crash in southern Egypt. In 2012, another bus accident killed dozens of children. Months later, a tour bus crashed, killing seven people, including five Germans, near a Red Sea resort.

mkg/sb (Reuters, AFP, AP)