CAIRO, June 28, 2025 (AFP) - A road accident in northern Egypt killed 19 people on Friday, most of them teenage girls working as day labourers, state media reported.

A truck collided with the minibus carrying the labourers to their place of work from their home village of Kafr al-Sanabsa in the Nile Delta, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Cairo, state-owned newspaper Akhbar al-Youm reported.

According to a list of the names and ages of the dead published by another state-owned daily, Al-Ahram, most of the workers were teenagers -- two of them just 14.

Egyptian media dubbed the girls "martyrs for their daily bread".

Road accidents are common in Egypt, where traffic rules are unevenly enforced and many roads are in poor repair.

Accidents often involve underage labourers travelling to work in overcrowded minibuses in rural areas.

At least 1.3 million minors are engaged in some form of child labour in Egypt, according to official figures.