The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Another black day for the transportation ministry

I'm receiving news there is some nasty bus accident that happened in Sinai today, with casualties.

UPDATE: Here is a Reuters report on the bus crash...
Up to nine Israeli Arabs die in Egypt tour bus crash
By Cynthia Johnston
CAIRO, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Up to nine Israeli Arabs were killed on Tuesday and 39 injured when their tour bus overturned in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian officials said, the latest in a string of Egyptian transport accidents.
Egypt's Interior Ministry said five people had died in the crash on a road near the holiday resort town of Nuweiba. Medical and security officials put the death toll at nine.
Medical sources said seven of the injured were in a critical condition.
The crash was the third in two days to hit Egypt's transport network. Also on Tuesday, a sleeper train collided with a tractor south of Cairo, injuring two people.
On Monday, 58 people were killed in a collision between two commuter trains in Egypt's worst rail disaster in four years.

AND ANOTHER TRAIN ACCIDENT!!!!! MESH MOMKEN!
Egyptian train collides with tractor: two injured
By Summer Said
CAIRO, Aug 22 (Reuters) - An Egyptian sleeper train collided with a tractor south of Cairo on Tuesday, injuring two people, a day after 58 people were killed in Egypt's worst rail disaster for four years, security sources said.
Police arrested the train driver after the collision, one of the sources said.
The collision, in the town of Beni Suef 100 km (60 miles) south of Cairo, derailed two carriages and caused panic among passengers.
In Monday's crash in the Nile Delta town of Qalyoub, a driver apparently ignored a signal and a commuter train ploughed into the rear of another.
Relatives have claimed the bodies of 55 of the dead but three remained unidentified, health officials said.
Tuesday's collision occurred shortly after Egypt appointed a new head of the state railway authority. The previous head, Hanafi Abdel-Qawi, was fired on Monday and his deputy suspended pending an investigation into the accident.
Transport Minister Mohamed Mansour is due to report the preliminary results of the investigation on Wedesday.
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has pledged that anyone found to have been negligent will be held to account.
The crash on Monday was the worst rail accident in Egypt since 360 people were killed in 2002 when fire ripped through seven carriages of a crowded passenger train.

The only good "transportation" news I heard today, was that one of my friends made it from his bedroom to the bathroom safely, without any accidents. He decided to walk.