Nine children were killed and two others injured when a motorised tricycle carrying farm workers toppled into an irrigation canal in the Abu Tig area of Assiut province in southern Egypt, according to local authorities.

Officials said the three-wheeled vehicle, commonly used in rural areas for cheap transport, veered off a narrow road running alongside the canal and overturned in the water. Preliminary reports in local media suggested a steering malfunction, though a formal investigation has been opened to determine the exact cause.

The victims were returning home from nearby fields where they had been working as day labourers. Residents described the children as coming from some of the poorest families in the area, many of whom rely on seasonal agricultural work to survive.

“My nephew is one of the nine who died. They are people below zero, they have nothing, and they work on farmland for one hundred pounds a day and they spend on their homes, these children,” said Gamal Suleiman, an uncle of one of the victims, speaking to local reporters near the canal.

Emergency teams and local volunteers rushed to the scene, where images later released by the Assiut governor’s office showed crowds lining the canal banks as divers searched the murky water for bodies. The dead were transferred to Abu Tig Hospital, while the injured were treated for their wounds; officials did not immediately release details of their conditions.

Local outlet Cairo 24 reported that the children were between 10 and 17 years old, underscoring the prevalence of child labour in Egypt’s rural economy, where families often depend on the earnings of minors to meet basic needs.

Assiut’s governor, Mohamed Elwan, ordered a series of emergency safety measures, including the installation of concrete barriers along exposed stretches of the canal and a review of transport practices for farm workers. He also directed social services to provide support to the bereaved families.

Deadly road incidents are common in Egypt, where ageing infrastructure, speeding and weak enforcement of traffic laws contribute to thousands of deaths each year. In many villages, informal vehicles such as motorised tricycles and pickup trucks serve as the main means of transport, often carrying far more passengers than they are designed to hold and travelling on unprotected roads that run beside canals and drainage ditches.