The death toll in the tour bus crash in northern Tunisia has risen to 26 in the latest update by the health ministry.

The tour bus was carrying 43 people on Sunday when it plunged off a cliff in the town of Amdoun. The driver is said to have failed to negotiate a sharp turn.

The bus had set off from the capital,Tunis, to the town of Ain Draham, a popular destination for Tunisians near the Algerian border, an official from the tourism ministry is quoted as saying.

Tunisia was in 2015 ranked as having the second worst traffic death rate per capita in North Africa by the World Health Organization, behind only war-torn Libya.