Tour bus crash kills 9 in Morocco
Moroccan police inspect the scene of a fatal bus accident in which nine Portuguese tourists were killed in Castillejos, Morocco. (EPA)
Published: Sep 9, 2010 00:04 Updated: Sep 9, 2010 00:04
RABAT: Nine Portuguese tourists were killed and 14 wounded on Wednesday when their bus overturned and plunged into a ravine in northern Morocco, local government officials said.
The bus was traveling from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta toward the Moroccan city of Tetouan when the accident occurred near the Errifiyyines area, the officials said.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the accident, the officials said. Road accidents kill about 4,000 people in Morocco each year.
Moroccan state news agency MAP said police suspected the bus driver had lost control of the vehicle because he was exceeding the speed limit.
Eight of the dead in the accident were female, including a teenager, and one of the injured was a Moroccan guide, medical sources added.
“It was very foggy and drizzling,” a witness said. “The coach skidded and fell into a ravine.”
A Spanish government representative in Ceuta said the bus was carrying Portuguese tourists who arrived on Wednesday morning in the enclave on a cruise ship.
Witnesses quoted by Portuguese media said it was in a convoy of buses when the accident happened some 15 kilometers from Ceuta.
The injured were ferried to hospitals in Tetouan, Fnideq and M’diq, near Ceuta, the Moroccan police said, adding that the driver of the bus was among them.
A spokesman for the Lisbon-based tour operators, Classic International Cruises, told Portuguese Sic television that 44 tourists were aboard the bus when it crashed at 0645 GMT. It was also carrying the Spanish driver, a Moroccan guide and a representative of the tour company, spokesman Nuno Fonseca said.
The bus belonged to a company in Ceuta, where the cruiseliner Funchal had docked with some 400 Portuguese tourists aboard.
With its 15th century cathedral and duty-free shopping, Ceuta is a popular destination for cruise ships and day trippers from mainland Spain and neighboring Portugal.
Ceuta, along with twin enclave Melilla, enjoys a status similar to Spain’s other autonomous areas such as the Basque region and Catalonia.
