Ten people were killed after a tourist bus collided into a car in southern Egypt on Wednesday.
Among those killed include four French, one Belgian and five Egyptian tourists.
A clip circulating online purportedly showed a tourist bus in flames with people trying to put out the fire. WION could not verify the authenticity of the video.
Fourteen others —eight French and six Belgians —were taken to hospital with “broken bones, bruises and superficial injuries”, governor of the southern province of Aswan Ashraf Attia said, according to AFP.
The injured tourists are said to be in a stable condition.
The accident took place on the 300 kilometres (186 mile) road connecting Aswan and the famed Abu Simbel temple further south.
This is the second accident that has taken place in a week. On April 8, a bus crashed on a highway near the Red Sea, killing three including two Polish tourists.
Egypt has been reporting thousands of traffic accidents every year. Poor transportation and safety records, poor enforcement of traffic laws are just some of the examples cited for such deadly accidents.
According to Egypt’s official statistics agency, there were around 10,000 road accidents in 2019, the most recent year for which statistics are available, leaving over 3,480 dead. In 2018, there were 8,480 car accidents, causing over 3,080 deaths, reports AP.
The series of accidents come at a time when Egypt has been struggling to keep its tourism industry running that has been marred by Covid pandemic and low tourist turnout on the account of political upheaval after the country’s 2011 Arab Spring revolution.
The tourism sector employs some two million people in a country of 103 million and generates more than 10 per cent of GDP.
(With inputs from agencies)
