Four Britons were hurt when their bus rolled off an embankment and exploded on a desert highway in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. The tourist bus was carrying dozens of Russians, Britons, Italians, Romanians, Egyptians, Canadians and Ukrainians. Many of them were badly burned in the explosion.

 

Authorities say at least nine passengers were killed and about 30 wounded.

Most of the passengers were asleep when the crash happened. The tourists began their trip from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The final destination was supposed to be Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

"It all seems like a nightmare, but unfortunately it's real," Diana Argentieri, 27, one of the passengers who was vacationing in Egypt with friends, told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital where she received stitches to her back and shoulder.

The driver, Ali Haridi, said he lost control of the bus on a sharp curve in the highway at Abu Zenima, an area about 40 miles southeast of the Suez Canal, the AP reported. After the bus burst into flames, passengers jumped from windows, the driver said. He was also taken to the hospital with burns and cuts.

"I was surprised by the turn and I wasn't able to control the steering wheel, and I lost control and it rolled over," Haridi told the AP.

It looks like speeding, careless driving and poor road conditions are to blame for the accident.

"The bus was going very fast and the road was in bad condition. We were immediately scared by the speed," Argentieri said.

Local officials said the injured Britons are being treated in two hospitals in Sharm el-Sheikh and in the city of Suez, which is about 40 miles (70km) from the crash site.