RABAT, March 17 (Xinhua) -- As many as six people were killed in a road accident on Saturday near Morocco's southern city of Agadir, local authorities said in a statement.

Two trucks running in the same direction collided on the Agadir-Marrakesh highway, causing fire that burnt two other cars nearby, killing the six passengers in the cars, the same source said.

Local authorities, security and civil defence services, and the specialized technical services rushed to the scene to put out the fire and take necessary measures.

An investigation has been launched to find out the reasons behind the accident.

A total of 3,499 people were killed in road accidents in Morocco in 2017, down 2.62 percent from a year earlier, according to the Moroccan Transport Ministry.

In 2016, the Moroccan government adopted a new national road safety strategy with the aim of reducing the fatalities in road accidents by 25 percent in 2021 and 50 percent by 2026.