Twelve people were killed on Thursday after two vehicles collided on a major highway near Upper Egypt’s Aswan, a medical source said.

The source said the bodies of the victims were all transferred to the governorate’s morgue.

He added that the collision took place after two small trucks crashed on Barnis highway, which connects Upper Egypt’s Aswan to the Red Sea.

This is the second deadly car crash in Aswan this week after twelve people were killed on Sunday, when a small truck collided with a taxi on the Aswan-Cairo Desert Highway.

It is also the third major fatal road accident this week, as five people were killed on Tuesday in Beheira after a truck crashed into a private vehicle on the Alamein International Highway.

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 millions of pounds to developing and expanding road networks in recent years.

Officials say the development of roads and highways in Egypt managed to reduce road accident fatalities by 44% during 2019/2020.

In 2017, the government passed a comprehensive traffic law to crack down on violators and enhance safety and security.

The implementation of the law is still pending the parliament’s approval.

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