At least 15 young women lost their lives this Tuesday and three others are still missing after the minibus in which they were traveling fell into the Nile River. The accident occurred due to a technical failure in the fastening of the ferry with which they were crossing to the other bank in the Egyptian province of Giza.
In total, 26 young women, between 17 and 25 years old, were heading to work at a fruit exporting company aboard the minibus, which was on a ferry crossing the river in the Monshaet al Qanater area of ??Giza. According to a security source reported to local newspaper Al Shorouk, “a sudden technical failure of the ferry’s brakes caused the minibus to fall into the water.”
The security forces, with the help of the local population, managed to rescue 10 young people, of whom two were injured and taken to the hospital. However, the Egyptian Ministry of Health later clarified in a statement that only eight young people had been rescued alive so far.
Search efforts continue to locate the three young women missing in the waters of the Abu Ghaleb area, northwest of Cairo, where eight ambulances have been deployed and security authorities and maritime rescue teams with divers are working. While the minibus has been recovered from the water and will be presented to a technical commission for examination and evaluation.
According to a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, preliminary investigations revealed that the minibus driver had “a verbal altercation” with a person who was on top of the ferry. After the altercation, “he abandoned the vehicle without checking the safety of the brakes, which caused a malfunction and caused the minibus to fall into the water of the Nile River,” in the Abu Ghaleb district, where rescue teams went. river.
