A collision between a school bus and three other vehicles in Beheira has left 16 dead, with efforts to identify the deceased getting more difficult as several bodies were charred in the consequent fire.
President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi ordered Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb to head to the accident scene.
Army spokesperson Mohamed Samir said the military has dispatched a fully-equipped aeroplane to help in the rescue.
Gamal Yassin, head of Beheira’s civil defence services, said a student-laden bus from al-Orman Association collided with three other cars near Anwar al-Mofty village, which caused fire to catch at the four vehicles. Yassin said four fire engines had been deployed to put the blaze out.
"Fourteen ambulances were also sent the scene to carry the wounded to the public hospital in Damanhour," said Mohamed Neamatallah, head of the province’s health department.
Damanhour Public Hospital chief, Abdel Fattah Meneisy, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that only three bodies were identified: the fuel tank driver, a lady and a little child.
“ We are finding it difficult to identify the 13 other bodies,” he said, referring to the students.
Nearly 100,000 car accidents took place from 2008 to 2012, leaving nearly 33,000 dead and 155,000 injured, according to a government report released in March.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm and MENA
