At least 11 dead in Nile ferry accident in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 11 Egyptians drowned on Saturday and five more were missing and feared dead after a minibus they were riding in plunged into the Nile from the deck of a ferry in central Egypt, security sources said.

They said 11 bodies had been pulled from the river near the town of Minya after the accident, which is the third major transport mishap in Egypt since the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday on Tuesday.

Rescuers were searching for the bodies of another five people who were believed to be trapped underwater inside the minibus, and state media reported that three people had survived with injuries.

Security sources said the minibus had driven aboard the ferry but then fell from the deck while the boat was still at the shore. State news agency MENA said it fell while boarding.

Many of the dead were from an extended family who had been travelling back to Cairo after spending the holiday with family in the village of Hag Qandil near Minya, 200 km (120 miles) south of Cairo, MENA reported.

It said that six of the dead were children ages two to 13, and that the minibus driver had turned himself over to police, fearing violence from family members of the dead.

A series of fatal transport accidents in recent years triggered a public outcry over the government's handling of transport safety. Many of those accidents have occurred on public holidays, when Egypt's transport system becomes overloaded.

On Friday, at least eight Egyptians were killed and 24 others injured when a bus collided with another vehicle near the oasis town of Fayoum south of Cairo. A day earlier, a metro train jumped its track at a station on the outskirts of Cairo, leaving at least 34 people injured.

During the Eid el-Fitr holiday in October that marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, 13 people died in a similar ferry boat accident in Minya after the ramp they were using to board the boat collapsed, plunging them into the river.

(Writing by Cynthia Johnston and Wael Gamal; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)