Morocco bus crash kills 31, mostly athletes

RABAT: Schoolchildren returning from a sports competition in Morocco were among 31 people killed Friday in a head-on collision between a truck and a bus that caught fire, officials said.

The accident in southern Morocco is the worst in the North African kingdom since September 2012 when a bus plunged into a ravine, killing 42 people.

MAP news agency, quoting officials, said at least 31 people were killed and nine injured, two in serious condition, in the morning collision near the city of Tan-Tan.

Officials said road accidents in Morocco kill about 4,000 people each year.

“A majority of the victims are children aged eight to 14,” an official said. The bus was transporting the young athletes and their coaches from a competition in Bouznika, a beach resort in the north between the capital Rabat and Casablanca. AFP