Bus travelling from an athletics competition in Morocco was involved in a collision with a gas tanker

A number of young athletes were among the 33 people killed when a bus was involved in a head-on collision with a gas tanker in southern Morocco on Friday.

Early reports said long-distance runner Hassan Issengar was among those killed, however on Saturday larep.fr reported that it was actually Hassan’s brother Mohamed, the 1992 Olympic 5000m ninth-placer and member of Morocco’s silver medal-winning team at the 1994 World Cross, who was among those to have died.

The bus was reportedly carrying young athletes after an athletics competition in Bouznika. Many of those who died are said to have been killed by a fire that engulfed the bus after the collision.

Lord Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka, who are both currently standing for IAAF presidency, were among those to pay tribute to the victims.

Lord Coe tweeted: “Tragic news about the young athletes and others who have been killed in a bus crash in Morocco. My thoughts are with their families.”

Bubka also took to the social networking site to pay tribute and wrote: “Terrible news from #TanTan, #Morocco. My condolences to the families of kids and all #athletics family. My heart is breaking.”

Tweets from an account in the name of Moroccan middle-distance running great Hicham El Guerrouj, translated via Google translate, read: “I am personally very sad and touched by the death of our young athletes, supervisors and former champions in the tragic accident. Issengar my friend, is among the victims. My condolences to the families and friends of victims.”

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