The mangled wreckage of the vehicles after the crash.

Mahmoud Ads, Staff Reporter

Seventeen people were killed while 17 others were injured in a terrible collision between a minibus and a public transport bus in Egypt on Saturday morning. The mishap took place on the international road "El-Tor - Al Shahid Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel in South Sinai.

The authorities received a report from the Roads Security Department of a horrific collision on the international road about 10 kilometres before the city of El-Tor between a public bus heading to Sharm El-Sheikh and a minibus. It has been said the accident took place due to lack of visibility caused by dense fog and that one of the two drivers lost control over the driving wheel.

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The death toll caused by the accident rose to 17 people and other 17 sustained medium to critical injuries. The authorities dispatched 17 ambulances to the site of the accident from which the dead bodies were transferred to El Tor Public Hospital, while the wounded were taken to Al Zahraa Hospital in Tor Sinai.

An operations room was formed to follow up on the accident, and the Public Prosecution was notified as well. The investigations into the accident are ongoing to reveal its circumstances and to identify the victims and injured people.

Dr. Ayman Rakha, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in South Sinai, said that the number of deaths rose to 17 people and the injured are 17, indicating that the injured were undergoing treatment at Al Zahraa Hospital, as seven of them had been transferred to Abu Rudis Hospital.