On Sunday, a bus carrying Tunisian tourists crashed off a hill in the country's northern Ain Snoussi region, killing at least 26 people and injuring several others.
Tunisia's health ministry has confirmed the tragic news. The privately-owned bus swerved off track after its driver failed to manage a sharp turn, ultimately hitting a barrier and falling to the bottom of a valley. The horrific crash took place during an excursion to Ain Draham, a popular destination during the fall season located on the border with Algeria.
Images of the crash site, which >reportedly suffers from poor infrastructure, have been circulating in the media and on Twitter. The bus, which is said to have been carrying 43 passengers, was completely destroyed. The roof of the bus was torn off as were its seats, which were scattered all over the site.
All those aboard were Tunisians, the country's tourism ministry said. The country's President Kais Saied and outgoing Prime Minister Youssef Chahed visited the site following the horrific incident.
The official cause of the accident hasn't been explicitly confirmed as forensic experts are investigating. But Tunisia's roads and traffic record has been deemed dangerous in the past.
In 2015, the World Health Organization reported that Tunisia had the second-worst traffic death per capita in North Africa, following Libya.
Just a year after that report was released, at least 16 people were killed and 85 injured when a truck's brakes failed, causing it to crash into a bus in the center of the country. The crash, which left several cars ablaze, was described as the worst the country had seen in years.