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Topics: no-article-matching, World News
Claire Reid
A bus fell into a canal in Egypt’s Nile River Delta region on Saturday killing at least 21 people, the country's Health Ministry has said.
Dr Sherif Makeen, a health ministry official, told the press that three of those who died in the tragedy were children.
The Health Ministry said in a statement the accident happened in Dakahlia province, around 62 miles north-east of the capital of Cairo.
The bus was carrying around 35 people when it somehow ended up leaving the highway and careened into the Mansuriya canal in Aga town.
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Other passengers survived and were rescued from the water before being taken to hospital for treatment.
The Public Prosecution has launched an investigation into what caused the accident, but the head of police investigations in the province, Brig. Mohamed Abdel Hadi, said the bus driver may have lost control of the vehicle’s steering wheel.
Images shared on social media appear to show that the bus was heavily damaged, with broken windows, following the crash.
The photos show a red and white bus being pulled almost vertical as it was hauled from the ditch, while filled with water.
Police were forced to put up a cordon as a crowd gathered at the site to watch the rescue efforts.
Thousands of people die in traffic accidents in Egypt each year, with the country having a poor transport safety record.
Around 7,000 people died in road accidents in the country in 2021, according to official figures.
A report from Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics shows that although traffic injuries dropped last year, traffic fatalities actually increased by 15.2 percent, Ahram reports.
Back in July, 23 people were killed and dozens more injured when a bus smashed into a parked trailer truck on a highway in the southern province of Minya.
A statement released by authorities at the time said: "The truck was parked on the side of the road to change a tyre when it was hit from behind by the bus travelling from Sohag governorate to Cairo.”
Footage from the scene shared by the authorities showed the bus had sustained heavy damage in the front half after smashing into the back of the truck.
In January, 16 people were killed and 18 others injured when a minibus hit a passenger bus in the Sinai Peninsula.
And just last month, 10 people died when a truck hit a minibus in Dakahlia.