Israel tourist bus crash kills 24

bus carrying Russian tourists has plunged into a ravine in southern Israel, killing at least 24 people, rescue workers say.

More than 50 passengers were on the bus when it came off a desert road and rolled down a steep slope near the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Several of those hurt were said to be in a serious condition.

The tourists had only just arrived and were being transported to Eilat from Ovda airport in the Negev desert.

The group had come from the Russian city of St Petersburg, local media reports said.

Ambulances and several air force helicopters rushed to the site to evacuate the injured.

Television footage showed the blue bus overturned at the bottom of the ravine. Luggage and wreckage lay strewn across the slope.

Some of the casualties were taken to hospital in Eilat, while others were flown to the town of Beersheba, a police spokesman said.

The Russian embassy in Tel Aviv said it had sent a representative to the scene of the accident.

'Overtook'

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Paul Wood says it is being seen as a tragic accident rather than any kind of attack.

The road where the accident happened links Eilat, a popular holiday destination, with Ovda airport, some 50km (30 miles) away.

It crosses mountainous terrain and involves a series of hair-pin bends.

The driver of another bus said that the vehicle overtook him in a no-passing zone and then crashed through a guard rail, the Associated Press news agency reported.