DAKAR: At least 40 people were killed and dozens injured in a bus crash in central Senegal, the country’s president said Sunday.
The crash, one of the deadliest in the West African country’s recent memory, was on one of the main east-west arteries near the town of Kaffrine, about 220 kilometres (137 miles) southeast of the capital Dakar.
President Macky Sall tweeted that the collision happened in Gnivy village, in the Kaffrine region, at about 3:30 a.m.
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic road accident today in Gniby causing 40 deaths and many serious injuries. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” said Sall.
The accident occurred after the tyre of one passenger bus burst, sending it into the path of another bus coming in the opposite direction, a statement from the area’s local prosecutor said.
Footage from the scene shared online showed two white buses, their mangled fronts entwined. Debris was strewn across the narrow road.
Road accidents are common in Senegal, where large trucks and buses, often decades old, overburdened and listing, hurtle down two-lane highways pitted and rutted by overuse.
