Morocco minibus plunge kills 24

Demnate, Morocco (AFP):

A minibus plunged into a ravine in Morocco on Sunday, killing all 24 people on board in one of the North African country’s worst-ever road accidents, officials said.

The passengers were travelling a mountainous route to a weekly market in the town of Demnate, in the central province of Azilal, when the minibus overturned on a bend, the local authorities said.

Images on public broadcaster 2M showed the vehicle crushed at the bottom of the ravine.

“All the passengers are dead,” Youssef Makhloufi, director of the Demnate hospital, told 2M, which reported that at least two women and a child were among the victims.

Local authorities said an investigation had begun.

Omar Majjane, who works for a local NGO, said the minibus “didn’t have a licence, and it’s a problem that affects the residents of mountain regions, particularly in Azilal province”.

He told AFP the fatalities were all from the town of Ait Tamlil in the High Atlas Mountains south of Demnate.

Accidents are frequent on the roads of Morocco and other North African countries, which see thousands of road deaths annually.