Police close off Kafr al-Sanabsah village in Monufiya after fatal crash exposes harsh living conditions
They were among four residents who said that security forces have surrounded the village of Kafr al-Sanabsah for over two weeks in an effort to keep journalists out.
The heightened security comes after dire living conditions in the village were thrown into the spotlight by a major crash on the Regional Ring Road in Monufiya which killed 18 women and girls, aged 14 to 22, from Kafr al-Sanabsah on their commute to work as day laborers at agricultural export facilities.
As scrutiny of the village increased, security forces have made it difficult for anyone from outside the village to enter.
A car carrying visitors who had come to offer condolences was blocked on the grounds that they were not locals, a relative of two of the victims said. Officers inspected the car, checked ID cards for potential journalists and only allowed the group through after calling one of the victims' families to verify they were expecting guests.
A relative of another victim said that a car affiliated with Al-Arabiya was barred from entering the village to conduct interviews. Other journalists, who had reached out to families by phone, canceled planned visits after being warned that police would not let them in. A third source, related to another two victims, said security even tried to block him from entry because he lives in a neighboring village.
The incident brought attention to the village's dire living conditions, drawing many journalists and visitors in its aftermath. Media reports soon spotlighted the widespread poverty and lack of basic services in the village — particularly educational facilities.
When Mada Masr visited Kafr al-Sanabsah, residents noted that there is only one middle school and no secondary school, forcing students to commute to nearby villages or the Menouf district to attend industrial or commercial secondary schools — adding to the financial burden that drives women and girls to seek work despite the high risk and minimal protections for agricultural laborers.
Within a week of the crash, the state announced compensation packages: LE200,000 per victim's family from the Social Solidarity Ministry, LE300,000 from the Labor Ministry and LE100,000 from the Transport Ministry. Donations from business figures followed, including Ahmed Ezz and Mohamed Aboul Enein. Later, an unnamed businessman pledged LE2 million to each victim's family — though two families told Mada Masr they are yet to receive the money.
'They couldn't just let us have the donations,' one relative of a victim of the crash said. The village mayor Mohamed Allam summoned the victims' families to a meeting — some of whom attended. There, he asked each family to contribute part of the compensation and donated funds toward buying land to build a secondary school. He proposed that each family donate the equivalent of one kirat of land — around LE250,000.
Several residents did not welcome the mayor's request. The relative criticized it, saying that the state owes it to residents to build a school. 'People here really need that money,' he said. 'You came and saw the state of the houses.'
The father of one of the victims told Mada Masr that the mayor later tried to persuade those who objected by sending respected community members to mediate.
Shortly after the meeting, however, a video circulated on social media in which Allam's brother — according to the same source — said that the initiative to buy land had come voluntarily from the villagers themselves.
Mada Masr was unable to reach the mayor for comment, as his phone remained unavailable at the time of publishing. But a close associate of his — a member of the pro-state Nation's Future Party — denied that the initiative was the mayor's idea and insisted it originated with the villagers themselves, adding that the government's Haya Karima initiative would eventually fund the construction of the school. The planned school is set to be built on a 3,500 square meter plot of land, but according to the source, the full amount for the purchase had not yet been paid.
Before the crash, villagers had already attempted to pool money to buy land for a school, a father of one of the victims told Mada Masr. But their efforts fell through amid what he described as the state's longstanding neglect of the village.
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Article 84 of the same law in the section on penalties stipulates that violating the provisions of Article 28 shall be punished with a fine of no less than LE200,000 and not more than LE500,000, in addition to the confiscation of seized birds and animals, as well as the tools used in the violation. But it is not just the ecosystem that is being harmed, according to environmentalists. Mai Hamada, head of the turtle and wildlife rescue team in Alexandria, told the Weekly that brutal methods are also used in hunting raptors. One main violation is that the bird prey, usually a pigeon or a chick, used in hunting has no way to escape as happens in natural contexts. 'The chick or pigeon is thus exposed to inhumane conditions, first suffering under the heat of the sun while in the net and then experiencing the fear of falling prey to the falcon,' Hamada said. The falcon itself is also exposed to inhumane conditions. 'After the bird falls into the net when it is caught, it tries to escape, but when it fails, it breaks its feathers, thus becoming unfit for sale,' Hamada said. To avoid this, hunters attempt to stop the movement of the falcon in many inhumane ways, blindfolding it, burying its body in the sand, or stitching the eyelids of the bird together until the buyer removes the stitches, leaving the bird suffering from eye infections and ulcers. 'To sum it up, this hobby and trade is completely inhumane and cannot be justified as a traditional hobby of kings and so on,' Hamada insisted. FANS SPEAK UP: Mohamed Taymour, a man in his 30s who loves hunting birds in the wild, has a different viewpoint. Taymour told the Weekly that he had 'inherited the love of bird hunting from my father and grandfather'. He grew up going out on hunting trips with friends who are also fans of hunting raptors in the deserts of south Matrouh and Alamein and sometimes also in Marsa Alam. 'For us, falconry is a hobby that runs in the family,' Taymour insisted. 'We're wrongly misconceived as overhunting and harming the environment, which is not true.' According to Taymour, people should understand the difference between those who take up hunting as a hobby from ancient times and those doing it for trade. 'The difference is crystal clear: those who practise falconry for profit do it secretly, targeting rare falcons and eagles which may endanger the ecosystem,' he explained. 'Fans, by contrast, go for small falcons and traded species, which is not hazardous to the environment. The Arabs used to practise it in ancient times to obtain food.' Taymour suggests legalising the hobby and regulating it under government supervision to boost tourism and generate income in hard currency, as is the case in many Arab countries. 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It has set conditions to regulate the indiscriminate hunting of birds. Every year, the ministry issues a list of species that are allowed to be hunted and those that are not as they are endangered. The ministry allows the hunting of doves, quails, ducks, and pigeons. Falcons, eagles, and songbirds are not allowed to be hunted in Egypt as they are endangered and may become extinct. Falcons aside, Egypt is located between Asia and Europe and thus its western coasts become the destination of five migratory types of birds during the months of August, September and October each year. Hunting trips are organised to herald their arrival, mostly aimed at the profitable bird-trading business. * A version of this article appears in print in the 24 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
