MINYA - Bodies of eleven people, including eight schoolgirls, were retrieved from floodwater in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya as the search continued Thursday for another victim who went missing after their bus, carrying 53 schoolchildren and seven teachers flipped over, due to heavy rainfall late on Wednesday. "Rescuers and civil defence authorities retrieved bodies of eight girls, all younger than 14, the driver, the co-driver and a teacher from the water near el-Barsha village in Minya," a security official said Thursday. He added that there were one other girl missing as search for them continued. "The water tide is higher than seven metres as it extended along 30km," the official added. The bus was taking children and teachers from Assiut's Al-Walidiya Prep School for Girls back to the town after a journey in Minya when it turned upside down due to bad weather in Wadi Hassan, a valley full of rain water, according to initial investigations. "Forty-three girls were rescued and received treatment in nearby hospitals. Only five are still under treatment," the official said. Assiut Governor Nabil el-Ezzabi ordered immediate financial aid to families of the victims. "Families of the dead girls received LE5,000 each while those of the injured were handed LE2,000," an Assiut Governorate official said. Authorities in Luxor in Upper Egypt, meanwhile, said that a highway linking the city to the Red Sea resort of Hurghada was reopened Thursday. In the Red Sea Governorate, six main roads were closed due to bad weather and to give workers a chance to drain rain water and fix asphalt layers, which were damaged in some areas, according to a security official. "The six roads will be open after the repair works end," he said. The Meteorological Authority said in a statement Thursday that the turbulent weather was expected to improve in the west and south of the country Friday. "However, storms, heavy rainfall and cold weather will continue in Sinai and eastern areas," added the statement. In Qena, a little girl was killed when a motorcycle her father was driving collided head-on with a truck due to rainfall on the Qena Highway. Seven other people were injured when a palm tree fell on their car near Akhmim, also in Qena. Bad weather two weeks ago forced the closure of ten ports and resulted in the death of more than 30 people in road crashes and building collapses. "Nine houses, seven of them are mud-brick, collapsed in Naga Hammadi due to the floods. No victims were reported," a Qena Governorate official said. The Ministry of Social Solidarity Thursday distributed 1,100 blankets, 288 plastic mats and 25 tents to the people displaced in the Red Sea Governorate, especially in Shalateen and Abu Ramad areas.
