At least 12 people were killed and 33 injured in Egypt on Monday after a bus overturned on a highway connecting Cairo to the Red Sea coast, the Egyptian health ministry said.

It said in a statement that 28 ambulances were sent to the scene of the accident which took place on Al-Galala highway connecting Cairo to Red Sea coastal towns including Ain Sokhna.

Domestic media including the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported the accident involved students from Galala University located in Galala City, one of the government's national projects in the Suez governorate.

The privately owned pro-state Sada al-Balad news channel said on its website that initial investigations had concluded the bus driver was speeding and lost control of the vehicle.

Road accidents left 7,101 people dead in Egypt in 2021, a 15.2% increase compared with 2020, statistics agency CAPMAS said in a report in 2022.