19 killed in a road collision in Egypt’s Nile Delta region

CAIRO (AP) — A truck and a microbus collided on a road in Egypt on Friday, killing 19 people, officials said.

The microbus was carrying workers on a regional road in the city of Ashmoun, in the Nile Delta province of Menoufia, as they were heading to work, according to a statement by the Labor Ministry. Three people survived the crash.

The victims, including the injured, were transferred to General Ashmoun hospital, according to local media reports.

Labor Minister Mohamed Gebran ordered authorities to take the necessary measures to disburse compensation to victims’ families, sending up to 200,000 Egyptian pounds (about $4,000) to the families of those deceased and 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($400) to each injured person.

Menoufia’s governor, Ibrahim Abu Leimon, said the cause of the crash would be urgently investigated, and he called on the transportation ministry to reassess safety measures on the regional road, according to the local media outlet Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. Speeding, bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws are the main reasons behind most of the crashes.