Eight people have died after a bus carrying North American and European tourists crashed and caught fire in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

The bus was apparently rounding a sharp bend when it overturned about 40 miles (70 km) south of the city of Suez.

At least 20 people were injured, many badly burned, in the crash which took place as the bus travelled from Sharm el-Sheikh to the capital Cairo.

Road accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt.

Analysts blame speeding, driver carelessness and bad road conditions.

The bus was carrying 40 people - among them Canadian, British, Italian, Russian and Ukrainian tourists - from the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Cairo when it crashed and burst into flames.

The bodies of the eight people killed were said to be badly burned, as are many of the injured who have been taken to three nearby hospitals.

The nationalities of the dead and injured have not yet been released.

One report suggested a tyre had blown as the bus rounded a bend in the road.

PHOTO CAPTION

Map locating Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

BBC