Play store
At least 18 people, most of them children, were killed when a pickup truck carrying agricultural workers crashed in Egypt’s Ismailia province, local media reported.
The accident occurred on a connecting road in the Al-Dawawis area of Ismailia province on Tuesday, according to Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.
Egypt’s Health Ministry said 47 people were killed or injured in the crash, with around 30 others sustaining injuries. Emergency teams rescued the victims and took them to a hospital in the nearby city of Al-Qassasin.
A hospital source told AFP that most of those killed were 13 or 14 years old. The youngest victim was reportedly just 10.
A local security source said most of the workers involved in the crash came from two villages in Sharqia province and had been working at a farm in Ismailia.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash.
Egypt’s Social Solidarity Ministry and Labour Ministry said financial assistance would be provided to the families of those killed and to the injured workers.
The use of pickup trucks to transport informal-sector workers to and from workplaces is common in Egypt. Official figures show that at least 1.3 million children are engaged in child labour in the country.
Data from Egypt’s state statistics agency show that deaths and injuries from road accidents have increased by more than 10%. Children under 15 account for the largest share of those killed or injured in such crashes.