The pileup involved a passenger bus and other vehicles and occurred in the Beheira region on a highway linking Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

An oil leak from one car caused the collision with some vehicles catching fire, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper quoted police sources as saying.

Footage circulating online showed many burned vehicles on the side of the road with firefighters extinguishing the fire.

Ambulances rushed to the scene to transfer the injured to hospital.