At least 12 people were killed and 26 others were injured after a coach overturned in Imsouane in the Agadir-Ida Ou Tanane Prefecture in Morocco on Tuesday morning.
The injured were rushed to a hospital in Agadir, according to the Alyaoum24 news website which reported the incident.
Morocco has recorded some fatal road accidents over the years. In June last year, three people were killed and 44 others were injured in Imsouane after a bus overturned along the road connecting the city of Essaouira and Agadir.
In 2015, at least 33 people were killed, most of them children, when a bus heading to Laayoune burst into flames after colliding with a gas tanker.
In 2011, at least 14 people were killed and nine others were seriously injured when two vehicles collided near the city of Ouarzazate in southern Morocco.
However, figures from the General Directorate of National Security revealed that road accidents in the country during the nation’s lockdown significantly declined compared to a similar period last year. This phenomenon, though, is mainly attributable to restrictions in movement and a reduction in economic activities which need driving.
Official statistics indicate that more than 3,300 people have been killed in road accidents in Morocco in 2019.
Four years ago, the government implemented a national road safety strategy with the intention of reducing the fatalities in road accidents by 25 percent in 2021 and 50 percent by 2026.
