<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>At least 34 people were killed when an Algerian passenger bus collided head-on with a commercial vehicle and burst into flames in the country's southern desert Wednesday, officials said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>One of the North African country's deadliest road crashes in years also left 12 others injured, many with burn wounds, Algeria's civil defence agency said.</div><div><br></div><div>Unverified media images showed the mangled and charred hull of the bus after the accident which occurred at around 4:00 am (0300 GMT) near Tamanrasset, about a 2,000-kilometre (1,250 miles) drive south from the capital Algiers.</div><div><br></div><div>Local media reported burnt bodies were recovered from the bus wreck, near the town of Outoul, 20 kilometres west of Tamanrasset, deep in the Sahara.</div><div><br></div><div>The civil defence agency said the bus was carrying passengers between Tamanrasset and Adrar, a town of about 2,000 residents to the northwest.</div><div><br></div><div>Footage broadcast by local media showed the bus going up in a massive ball of flames.</div><div><br></div><div>Other images shared by Algerian media show rescuers at the scene, near the two burnt vehicles that were involved in the accident.</div><div><br></div><div>Authorities did not immediately elaborate on the circumstances of the deadly crash or what had caused it.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Speed is the main cause of road accidents in the country, according to a government road safety agency.</div><div><br></div><div>There was no official comment on the accident. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is currently in China for a state visit.</div><div><br></div><div>Mohamed Boudraa, the governor -- or wali -- of Tamanrasset, visited the local hospital where the 12 injured were being treated, the official APS news agency reported.</div><div><br></div><div>It said they suffered serious burns.</div><div><br></div><div>Provincial officials also arrived at the site of the accident to oversee rescue operations, APS said.</div><div><br></div><div>Algeria recorded nearly 23,000 road accidents in 2022, leaving 3,409 people dead and more than 30,000 injured, according to the country's road safety chief Nacef Abdelhakim.</div><div><br></div><div>Tamanrasset is an important transport hub for the movement of people and goods from Algeria's far south to the coastal north.</div><div><br></div><div>The region, near the borders of Mali and Niger, is also a key transit point for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa hoping to reach Europe via Algeria.</div><div><br></div><div>In December 2020, a car crash near Tamanrasset killed 20 people and injured 11 others, most of them African migrants. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>