Death toll of Morocco flood-hit bus hits 24

The death toll from a bus accident caused by flooding in southeast Morocco has risen to 24, authorities said Friday.

Flood waters overturned the bus on Sunday and swept away passengers as the vehicle crossed a bridge near the city of Errachidia, said local officials.

The toll, put at 17 on Monday, was revised after authorities recovered the bodies of seven more passengers, five of them on Friday.

The bus driver, who had at first had been counted among the missing, turned up Monday in hospital and was treated under police guard ahead of questioning, authorities said.

His possible responsiblity for the crash lies at the centre of a judicial investigation, they added.

Some 30 others were injured in the accident.

Morocco has been hit by violent storms this summer, sparking flash flooding in its mountainous interior.

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.

On Thursday, Morocco passed a decree to establish a "solidarity tax" for natural disasters.