Rescue teams were still searching for victims on Saturday, August 16, of a bus crash that left nearly 20 people dead and over a dozen injured. The accident has caused nationwide condemnation over road safety.
“The toll stands at 18 deaths, 14 men and four women, and 23 injured, three in critical condition,” said Commander Nassim Bernaoui, deputy director of Statistics and Information at the Algerian Civil Protection, Reuters reported. Benaoui also noted that the police were still identifying the bodies, and the bodies will be transported to various hospitals in Algiers.
“This is a tragedy that has touched us all”, in a message to the nation, and described the bus crash as a “disaster”, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said, after declaring a day of mourning and expressing his condolences to the families of the victims.
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A heavily polluted river
Algerian news website TSA said the river into which the bus fell, Oued El Harrach, is known for its heavily polluted waters and foul odours. A project to clean up this iconic wadi in El Harrach is underway, but remains incomplete.
Although authorities say there’s an investigation to determine the exact causes of the accident, witnesses and survivors said that once on the bridge, the bus suddenly veered off course, hitting the bridge’s safety barrier and plunging into the wadi below.
Driver says the steering jammed
TSA spoke to the driver as well. “The bus’s steering jammed. The bus was overloaded. I don’t know precisely how many passengers they were. I tried to save passengers, but I couldn’t because of my injury. I was in pain.”
One unidentified survivor said, “I was sitting and talking on the phone with my friend. Suddenly, I heard the driver scream, before the bus hit the bridge barrier and fell into the wadi.”
Nazim and his friends were travelling in a car on the bridge and witnessed the accident, and immediately stopped their vehicle and jumped into the water to help survivors.
Two girls and their deceased mother
“When we arrived on the scene, we didn’t think twice. We didn’t know the death toll was so high. What touched me most were the two girls who didn’t want to leave because their mother had passed away. It was moving,” Nazim said, according to TSA. “There were people who risked their lives trying to save passengers. We don’t have the means,” he added.
Algeria’s Transport Minister, Said Sayoud, has in the past blamed the excessive speed of buses in Algeria for “90 per cent of road accidents.”
A local NGO, Project Algeria, blames the accidents on the age of the buses. “Shame for a country like Algeria with buses that are still in operation that date back 30/40/50 years, it is serious for the safety of passengers and the environment!, Algeria Project said on X.
84,000 buses need to be renewed
The minister addressed the issue of bus fleet renewal. ” We have been working on this project for a long time. We have said that 84,000 buses need to be renewed,” the minister explained in response to criticism of the dilapidated state of passenger buses in Algeria.
The Algeria Project proposed new laws for private bus companies to ensure they use new buses or otherwise eliminate private operators.
