Mystery surrounds the cause of a crash which left dozens dead or injured between the tourist city of Marrakesh and Ouarzazate.
2:44pm UK, Tuesday 04 September 2012
A child is treated after the crash near Marrakesh
Police are trying to identify the victims
More than 42 people have been killed and at least 25 others injured after a coach plunged 500ft down a ravine in Morocco’s worst ever bus crash.
Police said the overloaded coach was travelling in the Atlas mountains, between the popular tourist city of Marrakesh and Ouarzazate, when the accident happened.
King Mohammed VI issued a statement, expressing his condolences to the victims’ families. He said he would pay for their transport, funeral and burial costs.
Most of the passengers are thought to be Moroccan. It remains unclear whether any foreigners are among the dead.
Authorities are trying to find out the identities of those killed in the crash in Haouz province, some 60 miles south of Marrakesh.
The injured have been taken to different hospitals across the region.
Four of the injured are understood to be in a critical condition.
Officers said the cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
They said the bus had 67 people on board but was only authorised to carry 54.
It is the worst bus crash recorded in the country, which has a particularly bad safety record with 4,200 people killed on the roads last year.
In November 2010, 24 people drowned when a bus carrying workmen tumbled into a river near the capital Rabat.
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