CAIRO - A Cairo court Saturday sentenced an 18-year-old student to four years in prison for causing the death of 12 and the injury of seven others in a car accident on Cairo's Ring Road last October. "Driving his car recklessly and indifferently, Ali Abdel Hamid, a student at the American University in Cairo (AUC), is sentenced to four years in prison," the court said. It added that Abdel Hamid had to pay initial compensation to families of the victims. Chief Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud had referred the student to an urgent trial after the accident. The convict had paid blood money to some of the victims who did not attend Saturay's hearing. "The blood money never drops the charges," the court said. The accident took place on October 15 when Abdel Hamid's BMW swerved from the route to avoid a truck and crashed into other vehicles on the Ring Road. The car fell off the road barrier after crushing into passengers, who were waiting for microbuses on the side of the road. Road crashes in Egypt are among the highest in the world due to poor roads and reckless driving. Around 6,000 are killed annually in road accidents in this country of 80 million, according to official figures. Two years ago, the Egyptian authorities enforced a new traffic code involving tougher penalties.
