Deadly bus crash with truck kills 17, injures 29 in Egypt

CAIRO

A passenger bus has slammed into a slowly moving truck on a highway in southwestern Egypt, killing at least 17 people, officials and local media said Thursday.

The crash took place late Wednesday in the New Valley province, according to its governor, Mohamed el-Zamlout.

Twenty-nine others were injured, said the Health Ministry, adding that 26 ambulances were dispatched to the accident scene to transfer victims to nearby hospitals and morgues. It was unclear who outside the bus had been hurt or killed, and authorities didn't elaborate on what caused the crash.

A local daily, el-Shorouk, quoted an unnamed official as saying that the bus slammed into the truck which was “nearly parking” on the road. It reported that the bus had been carrying 45 people heading to the capital, Cairo.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. The collisions are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads or poor enforcement of traffic laws.