CAIRO - Local people in the Upper Egyptian town of Assiut have paid a grieving farewell to 17 schoolgirls and supervisors who were killed when their bus plunged into a floodwater-filled valley, local witnesses said. A funeral process for the dead victims were held at Al-Walidiya Village in Assiut, south of Cairo, amid cries from women and children. Some mourners chanted slogans against the Government for alleged failure in tackling crises. The bus was taking children and teachers from Assiut's Al -Walidiya Preparatory School for Girls back to the town after a journey in Minya, also in southern Egypt, when it was sweptaway by floodwater due to bad weather in Wadi Hassan, a valley full of rain water, according to investigators. Assiut Governor Nabil el-Ezzabi ordered 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 officials said. The bus, with 77 passengers, was heading to Assiut, after a day trip in Minya when it was caught in the downpour and swept into a three-metre (around 10-foot-deep) ditch by the side of the road. An ambulance driver who was among a team of rescuers dispatched to the scene also drowned after having rescued 20 schoolgirls. Two of the girls had been trapped in the waters for 15 and 20 hours, respectively. Witnesses reported bodies of young girls wearing headscarves and school uniforms floating in the water. Rescue workers and local residents struggled to save those on board, but the bus had overturned in the strong current. Survivors said the bus driver had stopped to have a closer look at the flooded terrain when the waters suddenly washed the bus off the road. Over the past three days, Egypt has been hit by freak weather, which caused a series of car crashes.
