Police, river rescue forces and seven ambulances from Daqahliya were dispatched to the site of the accident.

The river rescue forces saved 13 people from drowning.

Witnesses said the driver of the minibus, which was carrying 30 passengers, lost control of the vehicle, causing the minibus to plunge into the canal.

Daqahliya Governor Ayman Mokhtar has issued orders for medical services and financial support to be provided to the injured.

The Public Prosecution is investigating the incident, the authorities added.

Egypt’s Ministry of Social solidarity has announced that it is disbursing EGP 25,000 to the families of the dead (or EGP 50,000 if the victim is the family breadwinner), and EGP 5,000 to each of the injured victims.

The ministry also announced that the families of the victims will be registered in the Takaful and Karama cash support program.

In the last several years, Egypt has witnessed a steady decline in the number of deadly road accidents in parallel with national efforts to improve the country’s road network through the National Road Project that was launched in 2014.

Traffic injuries dropped by 9.3 percent compared in 2021 compared to 2020 – registering 51,511 in 2021 down from 56,789 in 2020, according to a report released by the country’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) in July 2022.

Although traffic injuries across Egypt dropped in 2021, traffic deaths increased by 15.2 percent, according to the CAPMAS.