Benkirane: 'Government will resign if we are responsible for deaths'

All the ministers of the Moroccan government are willing to resign, individually or collectively, if investigations prove them responsible for last Friday’s road accident that killed 35 in the suburbs of Tan Tan, south of the country, the country’s prime minister said.

“If the prime minister finds that he has to resign, he will do; or if the entire government has to resign, it will do,” Abdelilah Benkirane said during the cabinet’s weekly meeting.

He said that if the Moroccan government should step down, how could it not do so when 35 victims, including children, were killed in such a horrible way. “How can we ignore the issue as if nothing has happened?” he asked.

Benkirane stressed that his government is not negligent about the causes of deadly accidents in his country. “The situation will not remain like this. We have to bear our responsibility as a government and take measures to reduce these calamities.”

Last week, 35 Moroccans, most of whom were children, were killed while they were on a bus in Tan Tan on their way back after taking part in a school sports tournament in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

The bus caught fire as a result of its collision with a truck.