Over 18 Killed & Many Injured In Car Crash

According to the Egyptian health ministry, a speeding car driving against traffic crashed into three others outside the National Cancer Institute in central Cairo and also wounded 30 people.

At least 19 people have been killed in a multiple-car crashed that set off an explosion in front of Egypt’s main cancer hospital,  in Cairo on Sunday night.

Between “three and four (of the injured) are in critical condition in the intensive care unit,” Khaled Megahed, a spokesman for the health ministry, told an early Monday news conference.

The health ministry added that the injured were taken to different hospitals for treatment.

Health Minister Hala Zayed said in TV comments that unidentified body parts were being collected in body bags from the site of the explosion. It was also possible that some bodies had ended up in the Nile, she added.

There was no immediate explanation as to why the crash had caused such a large explosion and officials could not be reached for questions about possible sabotage or whether there had been any explosive materials at the scene.

According to the state-run MENA news agency, authorities have ordered an investigation into the crash.

“We heard an explosion and … the bank entrance glass was shattered everywhere,” said Abdel-Rahman Mohamed, a security officer at a bank at the opposite side of the hospital.

The police quickly cordoned off the area of the crash. Civil defense workers were seen Monday morning removing debris as officials milled about, inspecting the hospital to determine the extent of the damage to the building.

The riverbank is close to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which became known internationally as the scene of mass protests in the 2011 uprising that toppled autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.