A minibus crash in Egypt that killed 18 girls on their way to a farm north of Cairo has triggered a wave of anger at the government, with a senior minister facing calls to resign.
The accident on Friday in the Nile Delta killed 19 people, of whom 18 were girls said to be aged between 14 and 20. They were mostly students from poor families, harvesting grapes on farms for less than $3 a day.
They were killed when a speeding lorry travelling in the opposite direction crossed over and crushed their minibus, witnesses and police said. Images of the aftermath showed their vehicle mangled and nearly flattened.
The lorry driver was arrested and tests later showed he was under the influence of illicit drugs at the time of the accident.
The fate of the girls, working during their holidays to earn a meagre wage, has touched millions of Egyptians and forced the government into enacting a series of measures to placate public anger.
Lorry drivers will face drug tests and "emergency pensions" will be granted to families of victims, who will also have streets named after them.
Fatal road accidents are not uncommon in Egypt, a nation of 107 million where thousands are killed every year on its mostly busy and chaotic roads. But it is rare for 19 to die in a single accident.
The accident took place on a stretch of a road that runs through seven Nile Delta provinces. Opened in 2018, the 400km stretch cost 20 billion Egyptian pounds ($403.3 million) and is part of a network of motorways built in the past decade. There is a daily average of 10 accidents on the route, with scores killed, coining the nickname "road of death".
Friday's accident happened on a stretch where repairs that began two years ago mean traffic in each directions was confined to one narrow lane, with concrete blocks used as a dividing reservation.
Faced with scathing criticism over safety and the quality of roads built over the past decade at huge cost, the government has moved quickly to contain popular anger and defend its record.
Adding to the government's need to act quickly is widespread discontent over Egypt's economic policies, which have left the vast majority of citizens struggling to cope with double-digit inflation, a weak domestic currency, and higher taxes and government charges on services.
News of the accident and its fallout has dominated social media networks in Egypt and become the main topic of conversation on popular television talk shows, with pro-government hosts going to great lengths to strike a delicate balance between defending authorities and pandering to an angry populace.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, leader of 13 years, led the way in seeking to defuse the anger, ordering a significant increase in the compensation given by the government to families of the victims, as well as a comprehensive overhaul of roads and the tightening of safety measures.
Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir, a retired army general known to be close to the President, cut short a visit to Turkey to return home to defend his ministry's policies.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly also chipped in with a host of measures in a bid to show his government cares in the face of accusations it did not react quickly enough or show sufficient empathy for the victims' families.
Mr Madbouly has ordered that victims' families are exempt from paying school and university fees, has granted them "emergency pensions" and is commemorating those killed by renaming streets and government buildings in their home village after them.
He said lorry drivers will now undergo random and frequent drug tests to ensure no repeat of Friday's accident.
"Words of condolences and eulogies don't do justice to this monumental calamity ... I and the cabinet regret this accident, which pained every Egyptian," Mr Madbouly said.
There have also been calls for Mr El Wazir, also Industry Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, to resign. He has rejected those calls.
"It is your wish that I step down and go away, but I tell you that I am not quitting and will continue to work alongside my colleagues until the day I die," said Mr El Wazir, who also stated his readiness to face legal proceedings on whether his policies had contributed to the accident.
Khaled Ali, a veteran rights lawyer and former presidential candidate, said the Egyptian people – not only the victims' families – expect more than "statements and phrases designed to absorb the anger".
"What they expect is to genuinely hold accountable all the concerned parties, especially the ministers of transport, labour and social security, along with the Prime Minister," he said.
Another rights lawyer, Negad Al Borai, found fault in the government's handling of the accident. He said everyone involved will pay a price; the lorry driver, the minibus driver and the farm owner who had employed underage girls.
"What is amusing, though, is that the government, which is the primary cause of the accident, will not pay a price although the road on which it occurred is messed up after it has cost billions to build," he said.
Some came to the defence of Mr El Wazir, including one of Egypt's richest men, businessman Naguib Sawiris who said the entire blame lay squarely with the lorry driver.
"To blame the accident on the Transport Minister makes no sense," he wrote on X.
