Egypt bus collision in Nile Delta kills 17 passengers

Seventeen people were killed on Monday when two buses collided in the Nile Delta north of Cairo.

Another 16 people were injured in the accident, including three who needed to be transported to intensive care.

The collision took place between a bus and a minibus about 100 kilometres north of the capital, near the village of Belsha in Daqahliya province.

Local media has reported that the "excessive speed of the vehicles" was the cause of the crash.

Traffic accidents are common in Egypt, where many of the country's roads are not well-maintained and regulations are laxly enforced.

In February, Egypt's head of roads and bridges blamed unruly drivers for deaths on the roads and said the poorly maintained streets are actually safer for drivers.

He made comments came days after a massive accident that killed at least 16 people in a multi-car pile-up near the city of Beni Suef, south of Cairo.

Egypt has one of the world's highest traffic accident mortality rates.

Deadly road crashes take place on a near daily basis in Egypt.

Some 12,000 people die every year in road accidents in Egypt, according to World Health Organisation figures from 2009.