CAIRO, Nov 5 (Aswat Masriya) – A preliminary technical report issued on the school bus crash which occurred on an agricultural road in Beheira early Wednesday owed the accident to the "carelessness" of a speeding truck driver.

The death toll for the crash rose to 18, Beheira Governor Mostafa Hadhood said.

The school bus crashed into two trucks and a private vehicle on the Cairo-Alexandria Agricultural Road, causing fire on the road. The crash left 17 others injured, the governor added.

The technical report, issued by the General Authority for Roads and Bridges and Land Transport, said a truck carrying sand and gravel narrowed the lane where the school bus was moving, therefore causing the accident.

The report added that four vehicles were involved in the crash. It eliminated the possibility that the school bus driver caused the crash.

State-run news agency MENA meanwhile cited an anonymous security source who said that the preliminary examination of the crash scene suggests the bus driver is responsible for the accident.

A health ministry source told Aswat Masriya that the bodies of most victims were completely charred, making it difficult to identify them.

Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi ordered three medically-equipped aircrafts to fly to the scene of the crash and help the victims.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Health Minister Adel al-Adawi headed to the scene of the accident, according to a cabinet statement. Mehleb vowed that there will be a "firm stand" with "undisciplined" truck drivers.

The prime minister mandated the cabinet's legal advisers committee to draft "deterrent" legislation that would limit road accidents.

The cabinet is meeting on Wednesday evening to take "firm" decisions to face road accidents, a cabinet statement read.

Al-Orman School, which the bus belongs to, offered its condolences to the families of the killed students. It vowed in a statement to issue immediate compensation worth of 50 thousand Egyptian pounds for the families of each student killed as well as 25 thousand pounds for those injured each.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Health Minister Adel al-Adawi headed to the scene of the accident, according to a cabinet statement. Mehleb vowed that there will be a "firm stand" with "undisciplined" truck drivers.

Road accidents are a common occurrence in Egypt, being among the prime causes of death in the Arab world's most populous country.

According to a report released by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) in June, the number of car accidents occurring in Egypt in 2013 rose by 0.4 percent when compared to the 2012 figure.

This is the second deadly road accident to take place in Egypt this week.

A microbus carrying university students crashed into a truck in Sohag on Sunday, leaving at least 10 female students killed.