At least six women lost their lives in Egypt on Tuesday after a vehicle carrying around two dozen passengers slid off a ferry and fell into the Nile River near Cairo.


Indian Express quoted Egyptian Health Ministry statements as saying that the accident took place in Monshat el-Kanater town of Giza province, which is part of Greater Cairo.


Nine passengers were reportedly injured in the accudent. While six were treated at the scene, three others were transported to hospitals. Details about the nature of their injuries were not provided.


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Giza Governor Ahmed Rashed said the microbus was recovered from the Nile, and rescue operations were still ongoing as of midday Tuesday (India is 2 hours 30 minutes ahead of Egypt). The cause of the accident remains unknown.


The state-owned Akhbar daily reported that the two dozen passengers, mostly women, of the microbus were on their way to work when the accident occurred.


Frequent Ferry Accidents






In another incident in February this year, a ferry carrying labourers sank in the Nile in Giza, resulting in the death of at least 10 of the 15 people on board.


News agency AP quoted government officials as saying at the time that the five survivors were immediately rushed to a hospital and later discharged. The cause of the incident was not made clear.


This accident also occurred in the town of Monshat el-Kanater in Giza, one of the three provinces that make up Greater Cairo.


Similarly, two people died and eight went missing in 2022 when a small truck slid off a ferry and fell into the Nile. In 2015, a collision between a passenger boat and a scow on the Nile resulted in 35 casualties.


Frequent ferry, railway, and road accidents in Egypt have been blamed on poor maintenance and inadequate regulations.