Health and security services are still attempting to recover the victims before releasing a final casualty count.
Rabat – Twelve people have died, including a young girl, and six sustained critical injuries after an intercity bus carrying passengers overturned on a mountainous road near Agadir early on Tuesday.
The accident occurred on August 4 at approximately 2 a.m., 50 kilometers north of Agadir, a city on Morocco’s southern Atlantic coast at the base of the Anti-Atlas Mountains.
Local authorities announced that investigations counted 30 people with minor injuries, in addition to the deceased and the critically injured.
The bus, scheduled to travel from El Jadida to Tan-Tan, overturned on the national road linking Essaouira to Agadir. The mountainous road, commonly known as “Tabouga,” is famous for its zigzagging turns and considered to be one of the most dangerous roads in Morocco.
Reports indicate that local authorities and the Royal Gendarmerie are still attempting to recover some of the victims from the cliff where the accident occurred.
Authorities in the nearby Imsouane village mobilized three ambulances, while civil protection mobilized another five. All the injured passengers are being transferred to the emergency department at the Hassan II Regional Hospital in Agadir.
A video taken soon after the accident and shared on social media shows many injured passengers lying on the side of the road awaiting the arrival of ambulances.
Other footage taken after the arrival of emergency services shows the depth of the cliff where the bus overturned.