By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A bus packed with passengers traveling along a narrow road in southern Egypt plunged into an irrigation canal, killing 47 people Sunday, government and security officials said.
Minya Governor Ahmed Diaa said the bus swerved to avoid an oncoming pickup truck on the road to Cairo from the southern city of Minya some 133 miles (214 kilomters) to the south.
Diaa initially put the toll at 36. A security official later said, however, that another 11 bodies were fished out of the deep canal and taken to a separate hospital in southern Egypt.
Egypt has a history of serious bus and car crashes because of speeding, careless driving and poor road conditions. At least 8,000 people were killed in accidents in 2006, the most recent statistics available.