Egypt bus crash kills 13 on desert road

A truck crashed into a tour bus west of Cairo on Tuesday, killing 13 people and injuring 34, Egyptian state media reported.

Al-Ahram newspaper said the collision happened on the Cairo-Asyut Western Desert Road. It reported that the injured were receiving treatment at a hospital in Giza and that an investigation was underway to determine the cause.

An AFP correspondent saw authorities clearing the highway. A crane lifted the bus, whose front section had been ripped off, and passenger seats and debris were scattered by the roadside.

Road accidents are common in Egypt and are often blamed on reckless driving, poor maintenance and uneven law enforcement. Egypt's state statistics agency said nearly 6,000 people were killed in road accidents across the country last year.

Last month, a bus crash in Sinai killed 22 people, including 10 Jordanian tourists. In August, at least 18 people, many of them children, were killed in northern Egypt when two pick-up trucks carrying agricultural day labourers crashed.