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17 killed in car explosion in front of Egyptian capital

A picture taken early morning on August 5, 2019 shows people surrounding a burned car after an accident that caused an explosion leaving 16 dead and 21 injured in downtown Cairo. (Photo by AFP)

Seventeen people have died and 32 have been injured in an explosion outside Egypt's National Cancer Institute in central Cairo, Egypt's health ministry said early on Monday.

A car driving against traffic on Cairo's corniche collided with three other cars, causing the explosion, Egypt's interior ministry said in a statement.

Egypt's public prosecutor is investigating the cause of the incident, sources told Reuters, but there was no official statement indicating that the explosion was an attack.

Videos posted online showed fire trucks trying to control a massive fire, which damaged several cars.

Egypt's public prosecutor is investigating the cause of the incident, sources told Reuters, but there was no official statement indicating that the explosion was an attack.

A report said the car explosion, which happened in front of the Institute, shattered the school's main façade. It said that several cars parked in front of the institute were burned, and patients, doctors and workers were evacuated from inside the building.

"Patients and their families lined the sidewalk in front of the Institute in light of the lack of ambulances to transport them to hospitals, prompting a number of residents of the area to transport the injured in their own cars," said the report. 

Traffic enforcers closed the streets leading to the blast site, it said.

A video posted on Twitter showed firetrucks and ambulances all over the disaster area.

 


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