Bus crash in Senegal leaves at least 40 dead and 85 injured

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At least 40 died and 85 were injured in a collision between two buses in central Senegal, firefighters said on Sunday (8). The accident occurred in the early hours of the morning, at 3:15 am local time (0:15 am in Brasilia), near the city of Kaffrine, 250 kilometers from the capital, Dakar.

Colonel Cheikh Fall, in charge of rescue operations, classified the situation as serious, citing the 125 people involved. He quoted the number of 38 dead, but hours later President Macky Sall, in a tweet commenting on the case, confirmed the figure of 40.

“I send my condolences to the victims’ families and wish the injured a speedy recovery,” wrote the politician, saying he was deeply saddened. The country declared three days of official mourning.

There is still no confirmation of the identity of the dead, and the circumstances of the raid are under investigation. A statement from local security forces states that a tire on one of the buses burst, causing the driver to lose control and the vehicle to be launched head-on in the direction of the other, which was coming in the opposite direction.

Images published on social networks show one of the buses with the front practically inside the side of the other. Seats and luggage were scattered across the road. The injured were taken to the hospital in Kaffrine and, during the night, firefighters managed to remove the carcasses of the vehicles in order to free up traffic, according to Fall.

The governor and other local officials went to the crash site.

Traffic accidents are relatively frequent in Senegal, largely due to the poor condition of the roads, most of which are single-lane, and the age of large vehicles, which are often overcrowded due to the irresponsibility of drivers.

This Sunday’s case, however, was one of the worst in the country in years. In 2017, in the most recent major episode, two buses also collided, killing at least 25 people – several of them on their way to a religious festival.

Macy Sall called an emergency interministerial meeting for this Monday (9) to discuss traffic safety in the country.

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