Minibus plunges down Morocco ravine killing 24

Twenty-four people have died in Morocco after the minibus they were travelling in plunged down a ravine in a mountainous area, authorities say.

The bus was taking people to market in central Morocco, when it overturned on a bend, local media say.

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, is quoted by the AFP news agency as telling Moroccan public broadcaster 2M.

Two women and a child were among the victims, 2M said.

In 2020, an average of eight people a day died on Morocco's roads, according to the International Transport Forum.

In March this year, 11 people died when their vehicle hit a tree in a rural part of Morocco. A year ago 23 people died when the bus they were in overturned on a bend east of Casablanca, AFP reports.

In 2020, Morocco established the National Road Safety Agency to co-ordinate its road-safety strategy.