22 killed after Tunisia bus veers off road, crashes into ravine

A regional bus in Tunisia crashed off a hill Sunday morning, killing 22 local passengers who were on an excursion in the Amdoun region of the country’s north, the Interior Ministry said.

The bus, which belonged to a private local company, veered of a winding road after the driver failed to manoeuvr a sharp turn and crashed at the bottom of a ravine, the Ministry said.

Local media showed images of an overturned, crumpled bus with smashed windows at the foot of a hill.

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Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Lahyoune told The Associated Press that the bus was carrying 43 people and that 21 have been rushed to Amdoun and Beja hospitals with injuries.

The vehicle was headed 185 kilometres (115 miles) west from capital Tunis to Ain Draham, a beautiful local tourist spot renowned for its mountainous reliefs on the border with Algeria.

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Ain Draham is located at an altitude of 800 metres (878 yards) on the slopes of the Djebel Bir, one of the Kroumirie mountains.

Following the tragic accident, the Tunisian Soccer Federation said it would observe a one-minute silence before all scheduled games on Sunday.