Tourists die in Egypt bus crash

Nine people have been killed and 28 injured after a tourist bus crashed and caught fire in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

The bus was apparently rounding a sharp bend when it overturned about 40 miles (70 km) south of the city of Suez.

Russians, Egyptians, Britons, Canadians, Italians, Romanians and Ukrainians are said to be among the casualties - many of them badly burned.

Road accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt. Speeding, careless driving and bad roads are blamed.

Bus 'flipped'

The bus was carrying 40 people from the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to the capital, Cairo, when the crash happened.

The cause of the accident is unknown, though reports suggest the bus overturned as it rounded a corner, hit a concrete barrier and burst into flames.

One report suggests a tyre blew.

Ali Haridi, an Egyptian who was sitting near the driver when the accident occurred, told the Associated Press news agency that the bus flipped.

He was so disoriented that he "couldn't tell where the driver was", he told the news agency.

Mr Haridi was speaking from an ambulance that he said was carrying several injured tourists, including a woman whose hand had been severed and another who was severely burned.

The bodies of the nine people killed were said to be badly burned, as are many of the injured, who have been taken to hospitals in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Unnamed security officials told reporters that the injured comprised 13 Russians, four Britons, two Canadians, two Italians, two Romanians, one Ukrainian and four Egyptians, but this has yet to be confirmed.

The nationalities of the dead have not yet been released, but the UK Foreign Office said the four Britons were among the injured.

According to Egypt's official news agency Mena, the bus is owned by a company called Azure Travel.