Seven people were killed and 11 others were injured when two vehicles collided on Tuesday on a major highway close to Cairo, Egypt’s health ministry said.

In an official statement, ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the collision took place on the Katameya-Ain Sokhna highway when a bus collied with a truck in the Suez-direction lane.

Megahed said the injuries included internal haemorrhages, spinal injuries, bruising and abrasions, adding that all of the injured were receiving the necessary medical treatment.

The high rate of accidents in Egypt is often attributed to poorly maintained infrastructure and loosely enforced traffic regulations.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 12,000 people are killed due to road traffic crashes every year.

CAPMAS announced last week that the number of traffic accidents has shown a recent decline, however; the number was down to 11,100 in 2017, it announced, a decline of 24.5 percent from 2016's figure of 14,700.

Egypt has been working on enhancing road and highway infrastructure across the country.