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The National
02-07-2025
- The National
Egypt's lorry drivers fear scapegoating after road accident that killed 19
Lorry drivers across Egypt are bracing themselves for a wave of new regulations and surprise drug tests following the deaths of 18 teenage girls in an accident last week that put the spotlight on the high rate of road accidents in the country. While officials often point to narcotics use among drivers as a major factor, the drivers argue that they are being unfairly blamed for a crisis caused by poor road conditions, economic pressures and systemic neglect. 'We're the ones who get the backlash every time something happens,' said Islam Awad, 39, a lorry driver who has been navigating Egypt's highways for more than a decade. 'But accidents will continue until the roads are fixed, no matter how many drug tests they run.' The accident, which occurred near Ashmoun in Menoufia province on Friday, has sparked a national conversation about road safety and accountability. A lorry coming from the opposite direction crossed the central divider and slammed into a microbus carrying 21 female workers home from grape farms, a daily commute for the group. Eighteen of the passengers and the driver were killed. The lorry driver, who turned himself in to authorities out of fear of reprisals from the victims' families, said he lost control of his vehicle while attempting to avoid a rock in the middle of the road. The driver explained during questioning that the rock was impossible to see in time due to the narrow lanes and poor road conditions. 'I wasn't speeding, and I wasn't reckless,' he told investigators. 'I was only driving 50kph, but the steering slipped out of my control. I didn't mean for this to happen. My heart aches for the victims – I have daughters their age.' Officials said tests showed he was under the influence of illegal drugs. The tragedy took place on the Regional Ring Road, a 365km motorway connecting Cairo to five provinces – Giza, Fayoum, Menoufia, Sharqia, and Qalyubia. A 110km stretch of the road has been under repair since 2020, with one lane closed entirely, forcing two-way traffic into a single, poorly divided lane shared by lorries, buses, cars and microbuses. This is where the accident happened. The Ministry of Transport has defended the repairs, saying that the asphalt road is being replaced with concrete to better withstand heavy traffic and Egypt's high temperatures. However, the project has faced criticism for its slow pace and dangerous detours. Drivers like Mr Awad, who navigate the road daily, describe it as a 'death trap'. If you hit a broken part of the road or even something as small as a rock, you need several metres to recover, which you don't have. That's why this road is so deadly Islam Awad, lorry driver 'Lorry drivers are forced to drive these narrow lanes, and there is very little room to manoeuvre,' he said. 'Lorries are huge, and you're often carrying loads of up to 10 tonnes. If you hit a broken part of the road or even something as small as a rock, you need several metres to recover, which you don't have. That's why this road is so deadly.' The accident has reignited public anger over the quality of roads in Egypt after the government under President Abdel Fattah El Sisi spent billions of dollars on the national network. Social media users flooded platforms with demands for accountability, questioning why the ring road, completed in 2018 after a decade of construction, required such intense repairs just two years later. This anger is particularly palpable in Menoufia, where several residents told The National that their warnings about the road's dangers had been ignored for years. They said they had filed repeated complaints to the government about the number of accidents taking place on the road as a result of the repairs, to no avail. 'The only reason the government is causing such an uproar about the accident is because it is particularly tragic. Eighteen young girls and all from the same town, that is terrible. But many accidents, such as one that took place just last night near Mansoura, go ignored by the government,' said a Menoufia resident who asked to remain anonymous. Families of the victims refused to allow the governor of Menoufia to attend the joint funeral for the 18 girls held in the city of Menouf. Videos of the families turning their backs to the governor and shouting at him to leave were widely circulated. The Minister of Transport, Kamel El Wazir, visited the accident site on Sunday and promised that the ring road would be fully repaired in a project costing 50 billion Egyptian pounds ($1 billion). However, Mr El Wazir did not address the question of why such extensive repairs were needed so soon after the road's completion, a question that has fuelled public frustration and scepticism. Lorry drivers say they are being targeted unfairly by the government's decision to introduce random drug tests, among of measures to improve road safety. Both drivers interviewed for this article agreed that narcotics use is common among drivers, but they insisted that it is often a necessity rather than a choice. 'Everyone driving on roads all over the country is high – lorry drivers and sons of pashas alike,' said Abdo Ibrahim, 48. 'But the focus of this accident shouldn't be drugs. The focus should be the Regional Ring Road and how unsafe it is. Accidents happen all over the country, but I have never seen a road this deadly in my life.' Mr Ibrahim said the physical demands of driving long distances with little rest often push drivers to rely on narcotics like tramadol to stay awake and cope with the pain. 'It's not just about getting high,' he said. 'It's about surviving the trip.' Drug testing and another new measure, background checks of lorry drivers, will disproportionately harm them without addressing the root causes of road accidents, they say. 'Life has gotten so expensive lately, and for many of us, this is the only job we can do,' Mr Ibrahim said. 'Now they're going to make it even harder for us to survive.' Lorry drivers are typically on the top rung of their career ladder, having obtained first-degree licences after years of experience. The process requires six years of professional driving, with drivers working their way up from smaller vehicles. 'The job isn't easy, and most of us are experienced,' Mr Awad explained. 'But no one listens to drivers when we say the roads are unsafe. This accident happened because of the road repairs, not the driver. The whole stretch from Cairo to Menoufia is under repair – it's irrational.' He said it might have been more efficient to repair the road stretch by stretch to minimise the parts of it that are unsafe. The Regional Ring Road has earned its grim nickname – 'The Road of Death' – for good reason. According to state statistics, there have been 304 recorded accidents on the Regional Ring Road since mid-2022, resulting in 239 deaths. The number of accidents has been increasing steadily, with 114 reported in 2024, compared to 76 accidents in 2023. There have already been 67 accidents this year.
Arab News
01-07-2025
- Arab News
Egyptian driver who killed 19 heads to trial as outrage grows over traffic safety
CAIRO: Egyptian prosecutors on Tuesday referred a driver to trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter after he crashed his truck into a minivan last week, killing 18 girls and their driver. Friday's crash on a newly constructed highway stirred up public outrage over the poor transportation safety record in the world's most populous Arab country. Many, including pro-government commentators and lawmakers, lashed out at the government and called for accountability. Most criticism was directed at Transportation Minister Kamel Al-Wazir, with some calling for his resignation. A statement from the office of chief prosecutor said the truck driver was accused of abusing drugs and driving the truck without a relevant license. Prosecutors also requested the court to initiate a misdemeanor procedure against the truck's owner for allowing the man to drive the vehicle while knowing that he didn't have the required license. The trial is scheduled to start on July 8, the statement said. The truck collided with a microbus — a mass transit minivan — on a highway in the Nile Delta city of Ashmoun. The microbus was carrying girls to a vineyard where they worked as informal laborers. Three other girls were injured in the crash, according to the Labor Ministry. The crash happened on part of the highway that was under maintenance. Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, with many caused by speeding, bad roads or poor enforcement of traffic laws. Egypt's official statistics agency says 5,260 people died in road accidents last year, compared to 5,861 in 2023 — a 10.3 percent decrease. But 76,362 were injured in 2024, up from 71,016 the previous year — an increase of 7.5 percent.
Associated Press
01-07-2025
- Associated Press
Egyptian driver who killed 19 heads to trial as outrage grows over traffic safety
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian prosecutors on Tuesday referred a driver to trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter after he crashed his truck into a minivan last week, killing 18 girls and their driver. Friday's crash on a newly constructed highway stirred up public outrage over the poor transportation safety record in the world's most populous Arab country. Many, including pro-government commentators and lawmakers, lashed out at the government and called for accountability. Most criticism was directed at Transportation Minister Kamel al-Wazir, with some calling for his resignation. A statement from the office of chief prosecutor said the truck driver was accused of abusing drugs and driving the truck without a relevant license. Prosecutors also requested the court to initiate a misdemeanor procedure against the truck's owner for allowing the man to drive the vehicle while knowing that he didn't have the required license. The trial is scheduled to start on July 8, the statement said. The truck collided with a microbus — a mass transit minivan — on a highway in the Nile Delta city of Ashmoun. The microbus was carrying girls to a vineyard where they worked as informal laborers. Three other girls were injured in the crash, according to the Labor Ministry. The crash happened on part of the highway that was under maintenance. Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, with many caused by speeding, bad roads or poor enforcement of traffic laws. Egypt's official statistics agency says 5,260 people died in road accidents last year, compared to 5,861 in 2023 — a 10.3% decrease. But 76,362 were injured in 2024, up from 71,016 the previous year — an increase of 7.5%.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Yahoo
Teen labourers among 19 killed in horrific road collision in Egypt
A truck has collided with a minibus carrying workers on a road in Egypt, killing 19 people, most of them teenage girls, according to local officials. The collision occurred as the workers were heading to work in the early hours of Friday morning on a regional road in the city of Ashmoun in the Nile Delta province of Menoufia, north of the capital Cairo. The truck collided with the minibus as it carried the labourers to their workplace from their home village of Kafr al-Sanabsa, according to the state-owned newspaper, Akhbar al-Youm. Most of the workers were teenagers – two of them just 14 – according to a list of the names and ages published by the state-owned daily, Al-Ahram. Egyptian media has dubbed the crash victims 'martyrs for their daily bread'. Some 1.3 million minors are engaged in some form of child labour in Egypt, according to government figures, and accidents often involve underage labourers travelling to work in overcrowded minibuses in rural areas. Only three people survived the crash on Friday, according to a statement from Egypt's Ministry of Labour, and they were transferred to the General Ashmoun Hospital. Egypt's Labour Minister Mohamed Gebran has ordered authorities to compensate the families of the deceased with up to 200,000 Egyptian pounds (about $4,000) each. Each injured person will also receive 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($400). Menoufia provincial governor, Ibrahim Abu Leimon, said the cause of the crash would be investigated. Preliminary reports suggest excessive speeding may have been a key factor. Abu Leimon also called on the country's Ministry of Transportation to reassess safety measures on the regional road. In April, five members of a single family died in a two-car collision on the same road. Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year across Egypt. In October 2023, 35 people were killed, at least 18 of whom burned to death, in a 'horrific collision' involving a bus and several cars on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road, according to Al-Ahram.
CTV News
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
19 killed in a road collision in Egypt's Nile Delta region
This is a locator map for Egypt with its capital, Cairo. (AP Photo) CAIRO — A truck and a microbus collided on a road in Egypt on Friday, killing 19 people, officials said. The microbus was carrying workers on a regional road in the city of Ashmoun, in the Nile Delta governorate of Menoufia, as they were heading to their jobs, according to a statement by the Labour Ministry. Three people survived the crash. The victims, including the injured, were transferred to General Ashmoun hospital, according to local media reports. Labour Minister Mohamed Gebran ordered authorities to take the necessary measures to disburse compensation to victims' families, sending up to 200,000 Egyptian pounds (about US$4,000) to the families of those deceased and 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($400) to each injured person. Menoufia's governor, Ibrahim Abu Leimon. said that the cause of the crash would be urgently investigated, and he called on the transportation ministry to reassess safety measures on the regional road, according to local media outlet Al-Masry Al-Youm. Deadly traffic collisions claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. Speeding, bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws are the main reasons behind most of the crashes. The Associated Press
