At least 19 dead and 8 injured in microbus accident near Luxor

Two microbuses fell into an irrigation canal near the Upper Egyptian city of Luxor early Tuesday morning after swerving due to oncoming traffic, local media reported.

According to state-owned Al-Ahram, there were ambulances on the scene of the crash looking for survivors and retrieving bodies from the canal early this morning.  Al Jazeera reported that the drivers lost control of their vehicles due a combination of speeding and swerving to avoid cars coming toward them from the opposite direction. The state news agency reported that death toll is expected to climb as the day progresses, as many of the injured are in a critical condition.

The accident comes after several similar incidents, including a bus crash outside of Sharm al-Sheikh that killed at least 44 and injured dozens four days ago. It also follows a microbus crash in Alexandria in early July that killed one and injured five. In late April, three microbuses crashed into a truck on the Beni Suef-Fayoum highway, southwest of Cairo, in an accident that killed 10 and injured 14. 

This type of accident is endemic in Egypt where, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 12,000 people die each year due to road accidents. This figure seems to be due to a combination of human error and poor road maintenance. Although the WHO writes that there are traffic laws in Egypt that cover speeding, seatbelts and other road safety basics, the laws are rarely enforced.

Traffic problems are further exacerbated by the lack of an adequate public transportation system, meaning that the majority of Egyptians must either own a private car or continue to support an industry of microbuses and tuk tuks that have sprung up in order to fill the public transportation gap. This leads to congestion and unsafe conditions on poorly monitored and poorly maintained roads.

The government census agency states that 18 people die every day due to traffic accidents. According to Al-Ahram, a recently published government report stated that between 2008 and 2012 at least 100,000 accidents occurred in Egypt, resulting in the deaths of 12,000 and the injury of 150,000.