CAIRO: A 55-year-old British tourist died Saturday on a winding desert mountain road in Egypt s Sinai Peninsula when his car flipped over, police have said. The British embassy confirmed the fatality, but could give no other details. His wife, who was injured in the accident, was transferred to hospital in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. Also on Saturday, a microbus carrying five Russian tourists flipped over, requiring them to be hospitalized at the nearby town of Dahab, north of Sharm El-Sheikh. Two farmers were also killed in a tractor accident near Cairo. About 6,000 people die and 30,000 are injured in road accidents each year in Egypt. The transport ministry says they are the second-highest cause of death in the country and experts estimate they cause annual losses of up to $350 million. Traffic regulations are often badly enforced while maintenance of vehicles is also poor. Many of the country s coastal and desert roads allow for high speeds and accidents caused by reckless overtaking are frequent.
