Also, 17 people were injured when the two vehicles crashed on the city’s coastal road, the prosecution said in a statement. Out of the 16 deaths, 14 were in the microbus, while two of the bus passengers were killed.

The prosecution inspected the scene of the crash and moved to hospitals to examine the corpses and question the survivors, the statement added.

The bus, belonging to the public business sector company West & Mid Delta Bus Company, was heading to Sharm El-Sheikh when the crash took place, according to reports.

The incident occurred on the highway linking Suez city with El-Tur, the Ministry of Health said in a statement earlier today, adding that 13 ambulances were sent to the scene.

The deaths were moved to Al Tur Hospital, Health Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar said.

Ambulances also transferred the injured people to El-Zahraa Medical Centre in Al Tur, Abu Rudeis Hospital and Sharm El-Sheikh International Hospital.

The injuries ranged from fractures, abrasions, cut wounds, and suspected concussion, Abdel-Ghaffar said, affirming that all the injured are receiving the required medical care.

Fourteen of the injured already left hospitals, Undersecretary of the Health Ministry in South Sinai Ayman Rakha was quoted by local reports as saying.

Saturday's accident is the latest in a series of major car crashes over the past few days. On Friday, a trailer truck hit six cars and a microbus, injuring one person on the Port Said-Damietta road.

Also, two people were killed and 45 injured in two other car collisions on Thursday on the Al-Sokhna-Galala road.

On Wednesday, one person was killed and eight others injured when several vehicles collided on the Middle Ring Road highway near 15 May City in Cairo.

Deadly road accidents take place on a near-daily basis in Egypt, which suffers from poorly maintained road infrastructure and loosely applied traffic regulations.

The government has allocated billions of pounds to developing and expanding road networks and bolstering safety in recent years.

Last year, the parliament approved new amendments to the traffic law to impose stricter penalties for traffic violations and the adoption of a point system that will be applied for the first time in the country’s history.