CAIRO: At least 28 people including tourists and laborers were among the vicitims of two separate crashes in a bloody day on Egypt's treacherous on Saturday.
Health authorities said at least 22 people, mostly laborers, were killed when a minibus collided with a truck on a highway in Port Said in northern Egypt.
The minibus was bringing the laborers from a garment factory in Port Said.
The crash took place on a highway linking the cities of Port Said and Damietta.
Earlier, six people, including tourists from India and Malaysia, were killed and at least 24 injured when two buses carrying tourists crashed into a truck east of Cairo on the road to the Ain Sokhna resort on the Red Sea, a security official said.
A medical source said two female Malaysian tourists and an Indian man were killed along with three Egyptians — one bus driver, a tour guide and a security guard.
At least 24 others were injured, several of them tourists and some left in serious condition, a medical source said without giving further details.
Traffic accidents are common in Egypt where many roads are poorly maintained and regulations are laxly enforced.
But efforts by authorities to crack down on traffic violations, including speeding, appear to have borne fruit in recent years, with official figures showing a decline in road deaths.
In 2018 there were 8,480 road accidents compared to 11,098 the previous year, according to the bureau of statistics.
Deaths from traffic accidents fell from more than 5,000 in 2016 to 3,747 the following year and 3,087 in 2018, official figures show.
Ain Sokhna is a popular seaside resort town in the Suez governorate southeast of Cairo. It is also home to several petrochemical, ceramics and steel factories.
*With AFP and AP
