At least 25 people were killed and dozens more injured after a passenger bus overturned and plunged into a ravine near the coastal province of Boumerdes, east of the Algerian capital Algiers, on Friday, authorities said.

Algeria's Civil Protection Department said emergency teams were dispatched to the scene shortly after the crash, where rescue workers recovered the victims and evacuated the injured to nearby hospitals for medical treatment.

The exact cause of the accident remains under investigation, with authorities saying it was not immediately clear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

Images from the scene showed the heavily damaged bus lying at the bottom of a steep ravine as firefighters, civil protection personnel and medical teams worked to rescue survivors and recover the dead.

Algerian Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb visited the crash site later in the day, where he met with emergency responders and praised their efforts in carrying out rescue operations under difficult conditions. He also extended condolences to the families of those killed and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

The government has ordered an investigation into the incident to determine the circumstances surrounding the crash and whether mechanical failure, road conditions or human error played a role.

The tragedy is the latest in a series of deadly road accidents in Algeria, where traffic collisions remain a major public safety concern. In December last year, 14 people were killed after a passenger bus overturned in the southern province of Bechar.

According to Algeria's road safety authorities, 3,838 people lost their lives and more than 37,000 others were injured in road traffic accidents during the previous year, underscoring the country's ongoing struggle to improve road safety.

Officials have repeatedly attributed many fatal crashes to speeding, dangerous overtaking, driver fatigue, poor vehicle maintenance and failure to comply with traffic regulations. In response, Algerian authorities have intensified road safety campaigns, increased highway patrols and strengthened enforcement of traffic laws, while calling for greater public awareness to reduce the country's high rate of road fatalities.

Friday's accident has once again renewed calls for stricter road safety measures and improved oversight of public transportation as investigators work to establish the cause of one of the deadliest bus crashes in Algeria in recent years. (ILKHA)