Driver held after accident kills 12 students, injures 33

The board of trustees of Galala University in Egypt has announced extensive measures to support students involved in a bus accident that killed 12 and injured 33 on 14 October. In the meantime, the driver of a private bus remains detained pending an investigation into the causes of the accident.

The board said on 16 October that it has decided to form a health, psychological and educational support team for the injured, given that the post-traumatic stress after the accident may affect their academic performance.

According to a post on Facebook, the university would cover treatment expenses beyond their insurance, provide a 50% grant to all those injured in the accident until graduation, provide a safe and urgent means of transportation for residents of Porto Village (where the students live) to and from the university without any financial burdens, until housing is provided for them in the city of Galala.

The board has also decided to investigate the expansion of university housing in the city of Galala to include everyone, in cooperation with the responsible authorities.

In addition, it has decided to raise awareness among students about the dangers of using unsafe buses, and has called on students to use official, monitored means of transportation.

The board has also decided to analyse other requests by the students, who protested on 15 October about accommodation and transport, and implement what falls within the ambit of the administration’s powers immediately.

Investigation

The driver of a private bus involved in the accident that killed students from the faculty of medicine of Galala University as they were returning home after their classes has been detained pending an investigation, the Egyptian Public Prosecution (EPP) announced on 15 October.

The Ministry of Health and Population confirmed that the bus overturned on the Al-Galala highway between Suez and Cairo. The injured were being treated at the Suez Medical Complex.

Videos and photos of the accident went viral on social media.

Speaking to University World News via Messenger on condition of anonymity, a nursing student who survived the bus accident blamed a lack of affordable housing (close to the university) and transportation for contributing to the tragedy.

“Students were being exploited by the owners of private buses and flats,” she said.

The student’s view was echoed by several other students on social media.

On 15 October, university students also hosted a solutions workshop for their transport and accommodation problems.

Investigation

The EPP ordered that the bus driver remain in detention for four days while tests were being conducted after allegations that he was using drugs.

In a statement, the EPP also said that some of the injured students “testified that they had contracted a company to provide a bus to transport them from their residence to Galala University and back, and that, when they boarded the bus, its driver drove at tremendous speed and, when passing [around] a steep curve, the steering wheel malfunctioned and the bus overturned”.

Their version of events was confirmed by the technical inspection report, according to the EPP statement.

Galala University uses transport companies to provide services to its students, according to the university website, which stated that the purpose is “to ensure the utmost safety and convenience in transportation for its entire community”.

University ‘cannot be blamed’

Professor Ahmed El-Gohary, a counsellor to the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, for Continuous Professional Development, told University World News that Egyptian universities, in general, do not provide transportation to undergraduate students and “Galala University cannot be blamed for this tragedy incident”.

“The one to be blamed is the driver if the legal investigation proves that his reckless driving was the direct cause of this fatal accident,” El-Gohary, who is the former president of the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology in Alexandria, said.

In a higher education system with 3.5 million students, this was not a type of incident that happened frequently, he added.

“What should be considered is the stricter application of traffic laws, providing regular training and capacity checks for public transportation drivers,” El-Gohary said.

While the number of road accident fatalities in Egypt declined by 24.5%, the number of road accident injuries increased by 27%, according to the 2024 report on car and train accidents published by Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.

A wake-up call

Professor Hamed Ead, who is based in the faculty of science, Cairo University, and is the former cultural counsellor at the Egyptian Embassy in Morocco, told University World News: “This bus accident is a wake-up call to all universities to make sure housing is available to all students.”

In addition to housing, said Ead, the administration of transport services should be looked at. Universities should either get their own buses, or contract companies that can provide the service safely to ensure buses are monitored for speed, driven by professional drivers, and subject to regular maintenance.

“These transport and housing services must be relatively affordable – especially for students with lower incomes – [they must also be] safe, attractive, resource-efficient, convenient and flexible in order to improve academic outcome along with achieving social equity and university travel sustainability goals,” Ead stressed.

Ead’s view is supported by a 2023, ‘University Bus Services: Responding to Students’ Travel Demands? and a 2022 study, ‘Exploring housing insecurity in relation to student success’, which noted the impact of offering transport and housing services on students’ academic performance and mental well-being.

Care for the injured

The ministry of higher education and scientific research, in a statement on 14 October, offered its “sincere condolences to the families of Galala University students who passed away”.

Similarly, Galala University’s faculty members, employees, students and the academic community also expressed their condolences.

The university confirmed it was providing medical and therapeutic care for the injured students.

This news report was updated on 17 October 2024.