Bus accident in northwest Egypt leaves 5 dead and 59 injured

CAIRO:

At least five people were killed and 59 others injured on Saturday when a bus overturned on a coastal highway in Egypt’s northwestern Matrouh province, the official MENA news agency reported.

The coach overturned on the Alexandria-Matrouh highway and the victims were taken to three nearby hospitals, the report said.

Mabrouk Salem, undersecretary of the Health Ministry in Matrouh, said in a statement that 33 of the injured had been discharged from hospitals after treatment, while the rest of them were still under medical supervision.

Due to speeding, poor road maintenance and lax enforcement of traffic laws, thousands of people die in road accidents in Egypt every year.

In recent years, Egypt has expanded its road network to ease traffic congestion and reduce the number of traffic accidents.

According to the official statistics agency CAPMAS, 5,861 people died in road accidents in the country in 2023, a decrease of 24.5 percent from the 7,762 fatalities in 2022.