42 dead and 4 seriously injured in an accident in southern Morocco

At least 42 people have died and another 24 were injured, four of them critically, early this morning after a bus fell into a ravine in the Al Haouz province, in central Morocco, according to the official news agency MAP. The accident occurred at 2:00 am when the bus has plunged into a ravine about 150 feet deep at the height of Zerkten, the highway that runs from Marrakech and Zagora. Of the injured, 21 were evacuated to Ibn Tofail Hospital, Marrakech, while three others were taken to the provincial hospital in Ouarzazate. As for the dead, according to sources consulted by the MAP, five died in hospital. The governor of the province of Al Haouz, Younes El Bathaoui, has moved to the site of the tragedy to oversee rescue operations. For his part, King Mohammed VI has expressed his condolences for the victims and offered to run "expenses personally" both "victims transport, burial and funerals and the hospitalization of the injured", as reported the Royal Palace in a statement. Also, the monarch has "instructed the authorities to take the necessary steps to support and provide the necessary assistance" to the families of victims in this "loss cruel".