Algeria Bus Crash Kills 34: Emergency Services

Algiers, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jul, 2023 ) :At least 34 people were killed and 12 others injured Wednesday in an accident in Algeria's south involving a passenger bus, the country's civil defence agency said.

The head-on collision between the bus and a commercial vehicle caused a fire, the agency said as rescue operations were ongoing.

The accident, one of the North African country's deadliest in years, occurred near the city of Tamanrasset, about a 2,000-kilometre (1,250 miles) drive south from the capital Algiers.

Local media reported charred bodies were recovered from the bus.

The civil defence agency said the bus was carrying passengers between Tamanrasset, deep in the Sahara desert, and Adrar, a town of about 2,000 residents to the northwest.

Speed is the main cause of crashes in the country, according to a government road safety agency.

Algeria recorded nearly 23,000 road accidents in 2022, leaving 3,409 people dead and more than 30,000 injured, according to the country's road safety chief Nacef Abdelhakim.