No fewer than twenty-four people have been confirmed dead in Morocco after the minibus they were travelling in plunged down a ravine in a mountainous area on Sunday, authorities have disclosed.
According to credible local media, the bus was taking people to market in central Morocco, when it overturned on a bend.
The cause of the accident on the road to the town of Demnate, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, is unknown.
It is reported to be one of the country’s deadliest accidents. Morocco has a poor road-safety record.
A picture of the aftermath shows a battered vehicle on its side at the bottom of a slope.
‘All the passengers are dead,’ Youssef Makhloufi, director of the Demnate hospital stated.
Two women and a child were among the victims, 2M said.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that sometime in 2020, an average of eight people a day died on Morocco’s roads, according to the International Transport Forum.
Earlier this year in March, a tragic incident occurred in rural Morocco where 11 individuals lost their lives due to a vehicle collision with a tree. Similarly, just a year prior, 23 people lost their lives in a bus accident caused by overturning on a bend located east of Casablanca.
In 2020, Morocco established the National Road Safety Agency to co-ordinate its road-safety strategy.
In another report, Israel on Monday confirmed the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the Moroccan government and a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office revealed.
Rabat noted on Monday that Israel is presently considering opening a consulate in Dakhla.
A statement from Morocco’s royal palace which was sighted by Africa Today News, New York said Israel’s position was expressed in a letter to King Mohammed VI from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Since the end of Spanish colonial administration in 1975, Morocco has had jurisdiction over the region but no international recognition.