By Agencies
Cairo: At least 20 people have died and another 47 injured after a car crash involving several vehicles in Cairo caused an explosion.
Four cars collided on Sunday night, causing the blast outside the country’s National Cancer Institute, the health ministry said.
It happened when a car driving against traffic collided with another three vehicles, Egypt’s interior ministry said in a separate statement.
Around 54 patients were evacuated from the cancer hospital after the crash, with Cairo University saying the fire had damaged the main gate of the facility. Wards and rooms were also affected.
One patient, Mahmoud el-Sayed, said: “Parts of the ceiling of the hospital were collapsing as I got out of my room.
“People were running everywhere and shouting.”
It is unclear why the crash caused such a large explosion and if all the occupants of the vehicles involved died in the collision.
Health officials did not say if hospital patients and staff were among the victims.
Abdel-Rahman Mohamed, a security worker at a bank opposite the hospital, said, “We heard an explosion and… the bank entrance glass was shattered everywhere.”
Those hurt in the explosion were taken to hospitals for treatment.
The crash happened on a street by the Nile, with Egypt’s health minister Hala Zayed saying that is was possible bodies could have ended up in the river.
Road accidents are commonplace in Egypt. Official statistics show that there were 8,000 crashes in the country in 2018, with 3,000 people killed and 12,000 hurt in the collisions.
