JERUSALEM - Twenty-four people were killed and 33 more were injured when a bus filled with Russian tourists crashed into a ravine in Israel's Negev desert on Tuesday, rescuers said.
Among the wounded, 23 were in a serious condition, the Magen David Adom rescue service said.
"The bodies of the passengers were hurled from the bus as it crashed down into the ravine" a taxi driver who was behind the bus at the time said.
"The driver of the bus tried to overtake another bus in a hairpin curve and lost control of his vehicle," he told Israeli public radio.
Media said the bus flipped over several times as it plunged down 13 metres (45 feet) on to a dry river bed in the Negev, a rocky desert that covers more than half of Israel's land mass.
The bus had reportedly picked up Russian tourists who had flown from St Petersburg to Uvda and was headed to the popular Red Sea resort of Eilat, 50 kilometres (30 miles) away.
Air force helicopters and ambulances rushed the casualties to a hospital in Eilat, which received reinforcements from doctors and nurses attending a medical congress in the southernmost Israeli city.
The health ministry ordered all medical personnel in Eilat to report to the hospital in order to help the casualties.