CAIRO, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Egyptian newspapers said Saturday the authorities are accusing a Qatari prince of causing the death of five Egyptians and the injury of 14 others.
The independent Egyptian al-Masri al-Yawm newspaper said that Prince Suleiman Saud bin Thabet al-Thani was responsible for the casualties when his car "flew" and hit spectators during a car race in one of Cairo's main streets on Friday.
The paper said the prince immediately fled the country on a private jet after the accident, while family members of the victims accused the Egyptian authorities of trying to protect the Qatari prince by having facilitated his "escape" just one hour after the car crash.
It quoted Ahmad Selim Farid, the father of 23-year old Mustafa - one of those killed in the incident - as saying he met Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Ghait and urged him to intervene by bringing Prince Suleiman back to Egypt for prosecution.
Farid told the paper that Abul Ghait promised he would request bringing the prince back to Egypt if the prosecution issued an arrest warrant against him.
Local newspapers reported the crash took place during a race between the Qatari prince, who was driving a U.S.-made Ford, and Egyptian Rami Serri, driving a German-made BMW, on the airport road.
They said Prince Suleiman was driving at a speed of 125 miles per hour (200 kilometers per hour) when his car "flew into a crowd of spectators."
The papers said the authorities were investigating the accident.
