DEATH ON THE NILE, 19 young girls killed in a tragic accident in Egypt

Death On The NileLast Friday morning, on a local road in Egypt, a minibus carrying laborers collided with a big lorry truck, killing 19 people, most of them teenage girls, as young as 14, according to local officials. The accident happened in the early hours on a regional road in the city of Ashmoun in the Nile Delta province of Menoufia, north of the capital Cairo. The young girls were on their daily trip to pick grapes on a farm, an hour and a half drive from their village of Kafr al-Sanabsa. Egyptians and local media dubbed the crash victims “martyrs for their daily bread”. ” شهداء لقمه العيش,

trying to make a living in Egypt now, is a struggle, a sort of jihad, so anyone who dies even of natural causes becomes a martyr, and of course, heaven is waiting for them! end of the story, nobody is responsible, no investigation of the cause of the death. The Minister of transportation Kamel el-Wazir, a former military general, not wasting time, and not taking any responsibility either, in this accident on a road that was dubbed “ The Road of Death” for numerous accidents that take place daily; “Your wish is for me to leave the ministry,” Mr. Wazir (which ironically means minister in Arabic) who received the most of criticism for spending millions of dollars road repairs, … but I swear I’m staying here until I die. … I’m a fighter” he told reporters. Mr. Wazir blamed the lorry driver “ “The driver was on drugs and doesn’t have a driving license, causing the accident that killed 19 young virgins, what can we do, where is the crime?”! He barked at the reporter. Political and economic corruption, neglect, and incompetence are the crimes. While officials often point to drugs, alcohol use among drivers as a major factor, and blame for accidents. “We’re the ones who get the backlash every time something happens,” said Islam Awad, 39, the lorry driver who handed himself in to police, fearing abuses, claiming he has been driving for over 20 years. “But accidents will continue until the roads are fixed, no matter how many drug tests they run,” he added, The lorry driver denied the speeding and use of drugs charges. “I wasn’t speeding, and I wasn’t reckless,” he told investigators. “I was only driving 50kph, but the steering slipped out of my control. A huge funeral took place in the village where the 19 victims once lived. People descended from all over Egypt to mourn the road accident victims. Families of the victims refused to allow the governor of Menoufia to attend the joint funeral for the 18 girls held in the city of Menouf. Videos of the families turning their backs to the governor and shouting at him to leave were widely circulated. The irony of all this is that as the transportation minister Mr. Wazir, was driven to the accident site the next day, another truck accident took place at the same time, you can see his troubled face looking away, trying to avoid the crash. Why this accident captured the hearts and minds of millions of Egyptians, not just from el-Sisi’s opposition but from his loyalists, supporters, state mainstream media, and social media. The Guardian reported that almost two million minors are working in Egypt, without oversight to protect them. According to state statistics, in 2024, there were 5,861 road accident fatalities; 304 recorded accidents on this road alone, since mid-2022, resulting in 239 deaths. A few months ago, a train crash resulted in 23 people being burned to death, buses falling into the rivers, all brushed away by the officials with empty promises and excuses. In this time of TikTok and social media culture, those young 19 girls who were killed in the lorry accidents, people know their stories, their names, where they are from, and they know their dreams that were all crushed in the crash. Millions of Egyptians can see themselves in those victims’ faces; they see them in their sisters and daughters. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. My heart aches for the victims – I have daughters their age.” The Lorry driver lamented to investigators. As globalization spread and Western material lifestyles were imposed on poor countries, people’s dreams have shifted from a more traditional, simple life to a more complicated lifestyle. People’s hopes and inspirations are commercialized, which takes them away from their families and communities, leaving them abandoned in the heartless marketplace. Villages had moved from a self-sufficiency living, growing their food, to being dependent on the outside city market, which is void of a local social network. Villagers now buy their food, live in rented housing, and the old bartering trade system has vanished, replaced by cash-based trade; so, young villagers need to work to earn extra cash to help their families. This accident is not an aberration reported Egyptian Independent, but rather part of a pattern of neglect of the working conditions of women and girls daily workers, especially in the sectors of agriculture, where women and girls are transported in ramshackle and overcrowded vehicles, without insurance, control, or responsibility from employers or government concern. One of the victims, her name is Esraa, was working to earn more money for a new iPhone to use for her engineering studies, another Marwa was trying to get enough money to buy a sneaker for her brother, and another wanted to buy medication for her ill father who had no national healthcare program to protect him from the greedy healthcare industry. I took this road numerous times, every time I visit my village in Egypt, the roads in horrible conditions, no services, no maintenance, no signs, nobody follows any traffic rules, police checkpoints are only interested in controlling the population and spreading political fear, and road toll stations everywhere for money collectors. Growing up in a small village in the 60s, my elementary school took a month off in May-June so young students could go to the farm to help in cotton pest management—mainly removing leafworm–damaged leaves. It was festive, and it was a great experience to grow up and feel connected to the community. Now What began as a community pest control scheme in the 1960s evolved into a massive, exploitative child labor system, according to human reports and US state department, Children in Egypt worked up to 11 hrs/day, 7 days/week, earned around $1-3 a day, suffered routine beatings, lacked proper water breaks and restroom access, and were exposed to intense heat and hazardous pesticides. Egypt is no country for young girls!

Ahmed Tharwat

Host/Producer of Arab American TV show BelAhdan

Blogs at Notes from America

WWW.ahmediatv.com