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The deadliest accident occurred when a bus transporting textile workers collided with a car on the road between the cities of Port Said and Damietta in northern Egypt, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said on its website.

At least 22 men and women who worked for a clothing factory in the Port Said free trade area were killed and eight others injured, the report said.

The Port Said-based Al-Masry football club said that it would cancel its new year celebrations out of respect for the dead.

The accident came only hours after two buses carrying tourists collided with a truck east of Cairo on the road to the Ain Sokhna resort on the Red Sea, according to a security official.

A medical source said two Malaysian women and an Indian man were killed along with three Egyptians - a bus driver, a tour guide and a security guard.

At least 24 others were injured, several of them tourists. Some were in serious condition, the medical source said, without giving further details.

Traffic accidents are common in Egypt where many roads are poorly maintained and regulations are laxly enforced.

Read also: Dangerous roads are safer for you says Egyptian official

But efforts by authorities to crack down on traffic violations, including speeding, appear to have borne fruit in recent years, with official figures showing a decline in road deaths.

In 2018 there were 8,480 road accidents compared with 11,098 the previous year, according to the bureau of statistics.

Deaths from traffic accidents fell from more than 5,000 in 2016 to 3,747 the following year and 3,087 in 2018, official figures show.

Ain Sokhna is a popular seaside resort town in the Suez governorate, southeast of Cairo. It is also home to several petrochemical, ceramics and steel factories.