Up to 24 killed in Morocco bus crash

DEMNATE: Up to 24 people died after a bus crash in Morocco, in one of the deadliest recent accidents in the country.

The minibus was heading to a weekly market in Demnate town in the central province of Azilal. It overturned while carrying passengers on a street on Sunday, state-run news agency MAP reported.

A probe to determine the cause of the accident has been launched, the source said.

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In recent years, road accidents have become increasingly common in the North African nation.

In March, a minibus carrying 11 people, largely agricultural labourers, crashed into a tree in the remote village of Brachoua after the driver lost control. According to AFP, many lower-income citizens use coaches and minibuses to travel in rural areas.

Last summer 23 people died when a bus overturned on a motorway near Morocco’s economic capital Casablanca.

In 2015 up to 33 people, mostly schoolchildren, died after their bus caught fire after colliding with a trailer truck as they returned from a sporting event in the Tan-Tan province. The crash involving the young athletes was the deadliest in Morocco since 2012 when a bus plunged into a ravine killing 42 people.

The National Road Safety Agency records an average of 3,500 road deaths and 12,000 injuries annually in Morocco, with an average of 10 deaths per day.