Five people have died in a road accident involving a bus and a pick-up truck in Upper Egypt, an official from the health ministry announced.

Sixteen others, including an Austrian woman, were wounded in the collision that took place on the Cairo to Luxor freeway in Qena governorate late on Saturday.

Largely blamed on lax enforcement of traffic laws and poorly developed roads, traffic accidents have grown rampant in Egypt.

Around 12,000 people die annually on Egypt's roads, according to a 2012 World Health Organisation (WHO) report.

Egypt is one of ten countries listed in the WHO Road Safety project to be conducted over five years by a consortium of six international partners.