At least 24 people killed in bus crash in Morocco

An investigation into the cause of the accident has been opened, authorities say.

At least 24 people have died after a vehicle crashed in Morocco in one of the deadliest accidents in recent years in the country.

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

“Immediately alerted … local authorities, the Royal Gendarmerie and the civil protection services went to the scene to take the necessary measures,” it said.

A probe to determine the cause of the accident has been launched, it added.

Sunday’s crash is the latest in a string of deadly road accidents in the North African nation.

Last summer 23 people died when a bus overturned on a motorway east of Casablanca, the country’s economic capital.

In 2015, in the southwestern province of Tan-Tan, 33 people, mostly schoolchildren, died after their bus caught fire after colliding with a trailer truck as they returned from a sporting event.

That crash involving the young athletes was the deadliest in Morocco since 2012 when a bus plunged into a ravine killing 42 people.