CAIRO, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- At least 16 people were killed and nine others were wounded Saturday in a collision of several cars in the desert road near Assuit province in southern Egypt, a top security official told Xinhua.
A truck crashed with a private car which in turn caused the collision of three others in Assuit-Red Sea road, General Gamal Shoker, chief of Assuit Security Directorate said.
The dead included four children and five women, he added, saying the wounded were transferred to Assuit Public Hospital.
In 2016, at least 14,710 traffic accidents killed about 5,343 Egyptians and injured 18,646 others, with 72 percent of accidents due to human error, 18.2 due to technical problems of vehicles and 3.1 due to road problems, according to a report from Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.
Road accidents are common in Egypt due to lack of highway monitoring systems, poor road maintenance and negligence of traffic rules.
