CAIRO: A road accident killed 17 soldiers and injured more than 30 others in Egypt’s Nile Delta province of Beheira on Sunday, a security source said.

Their bus collided with a lorry on a highway, the source said. Seven of those killed were officers. An initial toll had said the crash killed 15 soldiers but two others died in hospital of their injuries.

The bus had been traveling on the El-Alamein highway when the accident took place. The lorry driver survived the crash. After the accident, the army sent a plane to transport the victims to a military hospital.

Bad driving and lax enforcement of traffic regulations are often blamed for the high frequency of road accidents in Egypt. However, Egyptians have also long complained that the government has failed to deal with chronic transport problems, with both roads and train lines poorly maintained.

Road accidents are common in Egypt due to badly maintained roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws.

According to a 2012 World Health Organization report, road accidents kill about 12,000 people each year in a population of about 90 million.