Algerian officials reported that at least 34 people were killed as a result of a severe bus collision with a commercial vehicle in the country’s Sahara desert region where the vehicles were set ablaze during the early hours of Wednesday.
Algeria’s civil defence agency said that 12 others were left injured in what they called one of the North African country’s deadliest road crashes in years.
Based on the images of the disastrous collision released by local media, the fire after the 4:00am accident near Tamanrasset, a city about a 2,000-kilometre (1,250 miles) drive south of the capital Algiers, left behind a mangled and charred hull of the bus.
Meanwhile, footage broadcast by local media showed the bus going up in a massive ball of flames.
According to reports by local media, the bodies were retrieved from the bus wreck, near the town of Outoul, 20 kilometres west of Tamanrasset, deep in the Sahara.
The bus, according to the civil defence agency, was carrying passengers between Tamanrasset, a town of 150,000 people, and Adrar, with about 65,000 residents, to the northwest.
Images released later by Algerian media showed rescuers at the scene, near the two burnt vehicles that were involved in the accident.
Although authorities did not immediately elaborate on the circumstances of the deadly crash or what had caused it, speed is the main cause of road accidents in the country, according to a government road safety agency.
There was no official comment on the accident as Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is currently in China for a state visit.
However, Mohamed Boudraa, the governor — or wali — of Tamanrasset, visited the local hospital where the 12 injured were being treated, the official APS news agency reported.
It said they suffered serious burns.
Provincial officials also arrived at the site of the accident to oversee rescue operations, APS said.
Furthermore, 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.
Tamanrasset is an important transport hub for the movement of people and goods from Algeria´s far south to the coastal north.
The region, near the borders of Mali and Niger, is also a key transit point for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa hoping to reach Europe via Algeria.
In December 2020, a car crash near Tamanrasset killed 20 people and injured 11 others, most of them African migrants
Greer played key role in negotiations leading to the "Phase 1" trade deal with China, signed in January 2020
Move will allow Trump's team to coordinate directly with federal agencies and access documents
Committee and State Department have been wrangling over Blinken's appearance for months
"We have nothing to defend him and we are not involved," says India's ruling party spokesperson
Rescue efforts being hampered by continuous rain; search efforts to continue until Saturday
Baby-faced Yamal came through Barcelona FC’s youth team and is now one of top team’s most exciting talents
