At least 19 people were killed and 30 others injured in an explosion outside Egypt’s National Cancer Institute in central Cairo.
State-run Cairo University, which hosts the NCI, denied claims that the explosion had taken place inside the center or that the fire had spread to the center, as initially speculated.
The cancer treatment facility was evacuated after the crash, which happened near the famed Tahrir Square.
“All the patients and workers at the center are well,” the university said.
The interior ministry said one car was speeding and collided with the others, causing the explosion late on Sunday,
But why the crash caused such a large explosion was not immediately clear. It also was not clear if the casualties were all from the vehicles.
Sources told that a team of prosecutors, criminal laboratory and bomb experts has arrived at the scene of the explosion.
Road accidents are common in Egypt. The country’s official statistics agency says 8,000 crashes last year caused more than 3,000 deaths and 12,000 injuries.
