Algeria Gate: A passenger bus veered off the road, overturned and plunged down a slope in Algeria’s Boumerdes province on Friday morning, killing 27 people and injuring 42 others, according to civil protection authorities.
The accident occurred at approximately 9:41 a.m. on National Road 24 in the Al-Karma area of Boumerdes commune and district. Civil protection services initially reported 25 dead and 44 injured. The toll was later revised upward to 27 fatalities and 42 wounded, said Nassim Bernaoui, deputy director of statistics and information at the General Directorate of Civil Protection.
Rescue teams were rapidly deployed, including two heavy rescue trucks and 10 ambulances. Operations to free victims and evacuate the injured to hospitals continued as specialized units worked at the scene. Authorities noted that the casualty figures remained subject to further updates.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims. In a message of sympathy, he stressed that justice “will strike with an iron fist and without mercy” once investigations establish the circumstances of the crash. He also declared three days of national mourning, with flags to be flown at half-mast across the country.
On the president’s instructions, Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb led a ministerial delegation to Boumerdes to assess the situation on the ground. The prime minister visited the injured and reviewed the care being provided to them at hospitals in Boumerdes and Algiers.
The crash has plunged Algeria into mourning as rescue and medical efforts continue.
