Six Australians killed in Egypt bus crash
A bus carrying Australian tourists overturned on a wet road, killing six Australians and injuring at least 20 other people, an Egyptian security official said today.
The crash took place in rain on the Cairo-Alexandria highway about 30 miles north of Cairo, said the security official.
Blaming the crash on the bad weather, he said 25 people were injured. However, a spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs put the injured toll at 24. She confirmed six Australians had died.
Speaking from Canberra, she said the bus that crashed was one of a convoy of two carrying holidaying police officers and family members from Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The other bus was not involved in the crash, which occurred at 10.45pm (20.45 GMT) yesterday, the spokeswoman said.
In Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said: “There’s been a very serious accident in Egypt in which a number of Australians have been involved.
“We assume that those who were killed and injured were Australians or were largely Australians,” Downer said, adding that the Australian ambassador was on the scene and trying to assist.
Road accidents are common in Egypt owing to bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws. Police estimate road accidents kill about 6,000 people annually.
