A bus carrying Egyptian and Jordanian passengers overturned on the Dahab-Nuweiba road in South Sinai on Wednesday, killing 22 people, including 10 Jordanians, and injuring 28 others, according to a statement from the provincial governorate. The vehicle was heading to Nuweiba port on the Gulf of Aqaba, where passengers planned to travel to Jordan by sea before it overturned in the Sueda area between the two cities.
The crash has revived longstanding questions about road safety in Egypt. Amira Saber, a member of Egypt's upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, called for investigating the underlying causes of the accident and reviewing the road safety system to prevent recurrence. She said road protection requires integrated oversight of vehicle maintenance, driver competence and working hours, as well as road conditions and signage.
Freedy al-Bayadi, a member of parliament, submitted a parliamentary question to the prime minister and the ministers of transport, interior and local development about the pattern of road crashes and accountability for the Dahab-Nuweiba accident. Al-Bayadi argued that investigations typically identify the driver as responsible while officials with the power and budget to prevent such crashes escape accountability.
The crash occurred less than a month after a minibus carrying agricultural workers overturned on the Dawaweesa road in Ismailia province north of Egypt, killing 19 people and injuring 29. A workers' rights organization called Dar al-Khidmat al-Niqabiya wa-al-Amaliya held a meeting to present a position paper titled "Worker Transport Accidents: The Failure of the Protection System."
At the meeting, injured workers and families of victims described conditions they face. One woman said she works with four siblings for 140 Egyptian pounds a day, minus 20 pounds paid to a contractor, working from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. She suffered multiple injuries in a car crash while traveling to work but said her employer refused to pay compensation, though doctors estimated dental work alone at 60,000 pounds.
Another worker said her employer told her "I am responsible for you only inside the farm" when she asked for compensation after being injured during her commute. A third worker described losing an eye in a farm accident and said the employer refused any compensation. The position paper proposed incorporating worker transport into occupational health and safety systems and expanding workplace inspections to include agricultural workers.
