Forty people were killed and 85 injured when two buses collided overnight on an arterial road in Senegal’s central Kaffrine region, the government said on Sunday.
Pictures of the incident show the front end completely mangled of the white bus, with blood-flecked seats, personal belongings and shoes strewn around the tree-lined crash site.
Road accidents are common in Senegal, mostly due to driver error, poor roads and damaged vehicles, experts say, but the latest disaster has caused the heaviest loss from a single incident in recent years.
In a statement, the government announced three days of national mourning starting Monday, with flags flying at half-mast across the country.
President Macky Sall will visit the crash site outside Sikilo village on Sunday, he said.
“In light of this tragedy, the head of state expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured,” the government said.
The public prosecutor, Cheikh Dieng, said in a statement that the preliminary investigation suggested that the public passenger bus suffered a tire blowout and stole the road.
It then collided “head-on with another bus coming in the opposite direction”, he said.
– ‘Tragic’ –
The statement said the incident happened around 0330 GMT.
It was a “tragic accident,” Kaffrine Mayor Abdoulaye Saidu Sow, who is also the Minister of Urbanism, told AFP.
Speaking from Kaffrine, he said that President Sall will be joined by the prime minister and several other ministers on Sunday.
Opposition politician Ousmane Sonko announced on Twitter that he would postpone a scheduled fundraising program due to the accident.
“We bow to the memory of the deceased, offer our sincere condolences to his loved ones and all Senegalese people and pray for a speedy recovery for the injured,” he said.
Colonel Cheikh Fall, who led the operation for the National Fire Brigade, told AFP the victims were taken to a hospital and medical center in Kaffrine.
The wreckage has been cleared and traffic is normal on the road, he said.
The governor and local officials have visited the place, he said.
In a tweet, President Sall said that after the period of national mourning ends, a government council will be held to “take strong measures on road safety”.
In October 2020, at least 16 people were killed and 15 others injured when a bus collided with a refrigerated truck in western Senegal.
The bus, with a capacity of 60 seats, was going to Rosso near the border with Mauritania, the fire brigade said, adding that the number of people on board was unknown.
Local media said the truck was transporting fish to Dakar.