Twenty-nine people were killed and 30 injured on Saturday when a bus crashed into a truck and a taxi cab on a mountainous highway linking two of Morocco's popular tourist destinations, authorities said. The accident in the High Atlas mountains took place when a commuter bus travelling from the tourist city of Agadir to Marrakesh was believed to have tried to overtake another vehicle and rammed into the heavy truck and then into the taxi. A local civil protection official said 27 bus passengers and two people travelling in the taxi were killed. He said it was too early to give the exact cause of the accident. "They are all Moroccans ... 11 are seriously injured," he told Reuters, adding most of the wounded had been taken to hospital in Marrakesh. The crash happened near the town of Imintanout, some 440 km (275 miles) south of the capital Rabat at around 8.30 a.m. (0830 GMT) during the busy summer holiday month. "Most of the injured suffered head and back injuries as well as injuries to their feet and hands ... at least five cases are without hope," said a doctor at the hospital's emergency unit. King Mohammed sent his condolences to the victims' relatives and ordered good care of the injured. Road accidents in the North African kingdom claim around 10 lives each day and cost the economy an annual 11 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) or 2.5 percent of gross domestic product.
