At least 24 people were killed in one of Morocco’s worst-ever road accidents, on Sunday (August 6), reported AFP citing officials.
The accident was said to have taken place in the country’s central Azilal province which is some 310 kilometres away from the capital Rabat, where a minibus carrying local shoppers en route to the regional weekly market, in the town of Demnate, reportedly overturned on a bend.
The accident on Sunday also comes months after an incident involving a minibus led to the death of 11, mostly agricultural workers. The vehicle, back in March, had slammed into a tree after the driver lost control in the rural town of Brachoua, local officials said at the time.
In August, last year, 23 people were killed and 36 injured when their bus overturned on a bend east of Morocco’s economic capital Casablanca.
According to Morocco’s National Road Safety Agency, the North African nation recorded an average of 3,500 road deaths and 12,000 injuries, which amounts to an average of 10 deaths per day.
However, since the country witnessed its worst bus accident with 42 deaths, in 2012, the officials have sought to halve the mortality rate by 2026.
