At least 7 killed as passenger train derails in Morocco

 A shuttle train linking the Moroccan capital to a town farther north on the Atlantic coast derailed on Tuesday, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens, Moroccan authorities and the state news agency said.

The provisional death toll of seven came from the MAP news agency, which cited a regional health official.

MAP also reported, based on information from an unnamed source at the military hospital in Rabat where the injured were being treated, that seven people were seriously hurt.

The shuttle train linking Rabat to the town of Kenitra derailed about halfway between the two, in the town of Sidi Bouknadel, near the city of Sale.

Sale Deputy Mayor Abdellatif Soudou said rescue workers were searching for passengers who might be trapped in the twisted wreckage of the train. Dozens were injured in the derailment, Soudou said.

The Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, offered to pay the costs of the victims' funerals out of his own pocket, MAP reported.

* Sign up to News24's top Africa news in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TO THE HELLO AFRICA NEWSLETTER

FOLLOW News24 Africa on Twitter and Facebook.