Twelve Egyptians travelling in a minibus died when it ran into the back of a truck near the Red Sea port of Safaga at dawn yesterday, medical and security sources said.

The driver and 11 of his passengers died, while two survivors were in a stable condition in hospital, a medical source said. The driver of the truck, which was pulling a trailer, was uninjured. Reckless driving, lax traffic rules and poor road conditions cause many road crashes in Egypt, a popular tourist destination. A series of road and rail accidents, often with multiple deaths, has sparked public complaints about the government’s transport safety record.

In July, 11 Serb tourists and three Egyptians died when their tour bus crashed near Hurghada on the Red Sea coast. That same month 16 Egyptian labourers returning from Libya were killed when their bus hit a truck near Minya, in Egypt’s south.