Egypt: 22 killed, 33 injured in car crash in country's south

At least 22 people were killed and 33 injured in a car crash on Tuesday near Egypt’s southern province of Minya, authorities said.

The crash took place in the early morning when a passenger bus hit a stopped trailer truck on a highway linking the capital of Cairo to the country’s south, local authorities in Minya said in a statement. The bus was heading toward Cairo.

Authorities said the truck was changing tires on the roadside when the bus hit it in the city of Malawi in Minya province, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) south of Cairo.

Ambulances rushed to the scene to transfer the injured to hospitals in Minya. Footage from the scene posted by local authorities showed a bus with heavy damage in the front half apparently from the crash with the back of the truck.

Traffic accidents kill thousands every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. Crashes are mostly caused by speeding, careless driving, bad roads or poor enforcement of traffic laws.

In January, at least 16 people were killed and 18 others injured when a microbus collided with a public transportation bus in the Sinai Peninsula. In April last year, a bus overturned while trying to pass a truck on a highway in the southern province of Assiut, leaving at least 21 people dead and three others injured.