Egypt: 6 students drown, 24 injured in Alexandria beach accident
Cairo, Aug 24 (IANS) Six students died and 24 others were injured in a drowning accident on Saturday at a beach in Alexandria governorate, northwest of Cairo, Egypt’s Health Ministry said in a statement.
The victims were part of a student group on a field trip organized by an academy specializing in air hospitality, the ministry said. The incident occurred at Abu Talat beach in Alexandria’s Agami district, Xinhua News Agency reported.
It added that ambulances were dispatched to the scene. Three of the injured were treated at the beach, while 21 others were transferred to nearby hospitals for further care.
Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, stressed the ministry’s commitment to supporting the injured and their families, while closely monitoring the medical and emergency measures, according to the statement.
The ministry, which did not provide details on the circumstances of the drowning, urged the public to observe beach safety guidelines, especially during group outings, to prevent such incidents.
Meanwhile, three people were killed and four others injured after violent storms hit Romania, emergency services said.
The storms battered 18 counties and the capital Bucharest, toppling more than 240 trees and power poles, flooding dozens of basements and courtyards, and damaging over 70 cars, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) reported on Saturday.
In Arges county, the roof of a building collapsed on three people, killing an 18-year-old man and injuring two others. In Ilfov county, north of Bucharest, two people kayaking on Lake Snagov drowned after their boat capsized in rough waters.
In Prahova county and Bucharest, two other people were injured when struck by a falling roof and a tree, respectively. All four injured victims were hospitalized but remained conscious, authorities said.
Authorities issued 19 weather alerts via the RO-Alert system across 12 counties and Bucharest on Friday evening.
The emergency response agency later said that two women, an 85- and an 83-year-old, were also victims of the flood. Firefighters had to use an excavator to retrieve one of the bodies from a riverbed.
The Environment Ministry’s water management agency said some rivers rose to record high water levels. Repair works on collapsed bridges were underway, it said.
Romania has faced increasingly frequent episodes of extreme weather this summer, with officials urging residents to take shelter when storm warnings are issued.