EGYPT: INTER-CITY BUS PLUNGES FROM OVERPASS ONTO BUSY SQUARE IN CAIRO KILLING AT LEAST 22 PEOPLE AND INJURING 21

Record ID: 648052

  • Title: EGYPT: INTER-CITY BUS PLUNGES FROM OVERPASS ONTO BUSY SQUARE IN CAIRO KILLING AT LEAST 22 PEOPLE AND INJURING 21
  • Date: 25th January 1999
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (JANUARY 25 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV/SCU DAMAGED BUS (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SCU'S INTERIOR OF DAMAGED BUS (2 SHOTS) 0.23 3. PAN DOWN BLOOD STAINED SEAT 0.33 4. MV EGYPTIANS LOOKING AT ANOTHER BUS DAMAGED IN FALL 0.39 5. SLV DAMAGED BUS 0.44 6. SV DAMAGED TOP DECK/LOGO - UPPER EGYPT TRAVEL 0.51 7. PAN MANGLED METALWORK 1.01 8. SLV EGYPTIANS LOOKING AT BUS 1.09 9. PAN DOWN EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL 1.15 10. VARIOUS INTERIOR OF HOSPITAL/ INJURED LAID ON BEDS (8 SHOTS) 1.45 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR MOHAMED SAYING THAT EARLY IN THE MORNING - ABOUT 0615 LOCAL (0415GMT)) - WE RECEIVED ABOUT 22 DEAD AND 22 INJURED 2.06 12. MV EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL 2.09 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th February 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVA558T522IDF7FTIS9UOX07GICE
  • Story Text: An inter-city bus plunged from an overpass to land
    upside down in a busy Cairo square, killing 22 people and
    injuring 21, Egyptian sources said.

    The bus was travelling from the Nile town of Sohag, 400
    km (250 miles) south of the Egyptian capital on Monday
    (January 25), when it careered off the overpass and fell into
    Giza Square several metres below at around 6:00 a.m.(0400
    GMT), security sources said.

    "We were driving along normally when the bus suddenly flew
    off the bridge," Huda Ahmed, an injured woman passenger, told
    Reuters from her hospital bed."All the people on the right
    side tumbled on top of everyone else, crushing us.

    "There was blood all around," said Ahmed, who had a
    broken arm.

    Most of the passengers were from the Sohag area.

    "There was a huge crowd at the scene where the bus had
    crashed on its roof, which was completely smashed," said one
    witness, who passed by two hours after the accident.

    "There were corpses covered with blankets everywhere and
    there were two bulldozers clearing the wreckage," he said.

    "There was blood splashed all over the bus."
    Residents said there had been several accidents at the
    same spot before this one, but this was the worst they could
    recall.

    Security sources said an investigation was under way into
    why the driver, who was injured, had lost control of the bus.

    Bystanders said they had heard that another bus or truck
    had rammed into the bus from behind, but this could not be
    confirmed.

    Grim-faced officials from the Upper Egypt Travel Company,
    the bus operator, inspected the blood-smeared wreckage of the
    bus, whose crushed roof had flattened the seats.

    It was the fifth traffic accident to cause multiple
    casualties in Egypt this month.

    One German tourist died and 51 holidaymakers of various
    nationalities were injured on January 8 when two buses
    overturned in bad weather.Nine people were killed and 32
    injured in two traffic accidents caused by heavy fog on
    January 13.Twelve people were killed and at least 16 injured
    when a bus and a truck collided head-on in northern Egypt on
    Saturday.

    Egypt has one of the world's highest traffic accident
    rates.

    Crammed buses lurching through busy streets with their
    horns blaring as passengers jump on and off the moving
    vehicles are a common sight in Cairo, a city of 16 million
    people.


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