ISTANBUL

At least 16 people were killed and 18 others injured in a deadly road accident on Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, according to health officials.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said a microbus and a bus collided on a road linking the South Sinai city of Tor to the canal city of Suez.

The ministry said it deployed 13 ambulances to the scene and that the injured were rushed to hospitals.

Egypt has a poor transportation safety record, where thousands of traffic accidents occur every year due to speeding and poor enforcement of traffic laws.

According to the state statistics agency CAPMAS, Egypt saw 9,992 car accidents in 2019, the most recent year for which statistics are available, causing 3,484 deaths. In 2018, there were 8,480 accidents, causing over 3,080 deaths.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar