At least 24 Tunisians died and other 18 were injured when a bus plunged into a ravine, in one of the country’s worst road accidents.

The bus had set off from Tunis to the picturesque northern mountain town of Ain Draham, a popular autumn destination for Tunisians near the Algerian border, according to the tourism ministry, Twenty-four people were killed and 18 injured, the victims aged between 20 and 30, said the health ministry.

According to the details, the top of the bus appears to have been torn off and bodies, some in sports clothes and trainers, were strewn across the ground.

A sign reading in English “Sweet Time Travel” — apparently the name of the travel agency that ferried the tourists from Tunis — lay among the debris.

The bus with 43 people on board was travelling through the northern Ain Snoussi region when it veered off the road.

The vehicle had “fallen into a ravine after crashing through an iron barrier”, interior ministry said on its Facebook page, the injured were immediately transferred to nearby hospitals.

Forensic experts were deployed to investigate the crash.