Morocco floods kill 11 in bus accident: local officials

A picture taken on September 8, 2019 shows the wreckage of a bus, following a flood-related accident at the Damchan river near the city of Errachidia, in the El Khank region in southern Morocco that left at least six people dead. (Photo by – / AFP)

RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — At least 11 people were killed Sunday in Morocco after their bus was overturned by a flood in the kingdom’s southeast, authorities said.

Rescue crews evacuated 27 passengers from the bus, including several injured, after it flipped over on a bridge by “flood waters” in El Khank, local officials said in a statement.

Search operations were ongoing, they said, adding that the evacuees had been transferred to hospital in the city of Errachidia.

Morocco has been hit by violent storms this summer.

At the end of August, a flood hit a football pitch killing eight people in the southern region of Taroudant.

And in July, 15 people were killed in a landslide caused by flash floods on a road south of Marrakesh.

Floods are common in the North African country. In 2014, they killed around 50 people and caused considerable damage.

A study published in 2015 pointed to multiple failures in infrastructure maintenance, prevention, warning and emergency management.

© Agence France-Presse