19 die when bus plunges into Nile

CAIRO, Egypt – A bus plunged into a canal alongside the Nile River in southern Egypt on Monday, killing 17 passengers and the driver, the state MENA news agency reported.

A pickup driver who apparently caused the accident near the village of Beni Mzar in Minya province also died. Some 40 surviving passengers were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, MENA said.

The accident occurred as the bus driver scrambled to avoid a collision with the speeding pickup trying to pass him, police chief Mahmoud Noureddin in Minya, 135 miles south of Cairo, was quoted as saying.