Posted on 01/11/2006 1:57:19 AM PST by Aussie Dasher
At least six Australians, including a child, are feared dead after their tour bus crashed outside the Egyptian capital Cairo in bad weather.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said at least 24 people were injured, and it was assumed that those killed and hurt were Australian, or largely Australian.
Reuters reported that the fatalities were five males and one woman, and that the injured were taken to Al-Haram hospital.
The bus was one of two carrying police officers and their families, from Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory, on a goodwill tour. The second bus was not involved in the accident.
At least three officers, two from Victoria and one from the Northern Territory, are among the injured.
Melbourne nurse Barbara Kennedy, who was in the second bus, described the crash scene as horrendous, with the roof of the crashed bus torn off.
"Some of the casualties I saw were very, very sick," she told ABC radio.
"The first girl I came to ... I knew had passed away and then the next person, he also was dead and it was just awful.
"It was in the dark, it was in the middle of the desert, there was no light, it wasn't emergency services like we've got.
"(The crash) was absolutely horrendous."
NT Acting Commissioner Bruce Wernham said a female officer from the Territory, who was in the second bus, was injured when she went to help those in the first coach.
He said he believed the bus crashed after it swerved to avoid a car that was "dangerously overtaking".
"Our people, the three (female) members of the NT police force, were travelling in the second bus," Acting Commissioner Wernham said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theage.com.au ...
I add my prayers too. Buses in the middle east are usually a dangerous way to take part on public transportation. Their drivers often confuse their vehicels with formula one racing cars.
Even if all the passengers are police officers?
Egyptians - regardless of whether driving taxis, buses, or private vehicles - are the worst in the world - scariest, too. I was always amazed to survive my taxi rides in Cairo.
Don't you love Egyptian highway rules?
No headlights at night (saving energy?)
Lanes? Fugedaboutit. Whoever gets there first goes first.
Constant horn honking, with a different inflection for each "beep" and pattern of "beeps"
If Sh&t happens, it is Allah's will.
Even then.
Highway rules? Highway rules? We don't need no stinkin' highway rules!
No headlights anywhere at night. You cannot convince them that headlights will not run down their batteries.
I always thought the biggest waste of money was buying white paint and painting all those lines for traffic lanes - absolutely ignored, everywhere, all the time.
Been there, seen that.... even posted my adventure out here..our convoy from Hurghada to Luxor was one helluva experience...
I guess sometimes your guardian angel is working overtime and sometimes you're just lucky...
Our guide's excuse for our driver not using headlights is that it could blind other drivers....
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