39 killed, over 100 hurt in Senegal bus collision

DAKAR — Thirty-nine people were killed and more than 100 others injured when two buses crashed in a head-on collision overnight on an arterial road in Senegal's central Kaffrine region, President Macky Sall told reporters on Sunday.

Images of the accident showed the completely mangled front end of a white bus, with blood-flecked seats, personal items and a shoe strewed around the tree-lined crash site.

Road accidents are common in Senegal, largely because of driver error, poor roads and decrepit vehicles, experts said. But the latest disaster has caused one of the heaviest losses of life from a single incident in recent years.

Speaking to reporters, Sall corrected an earlier government statement that had put the death toll at 40, citing a miscount at the morgue.

He made the comments after visiting the crash site on the No 1 national highway just outside of the village of Sikilo. He also spoke with some of the injured at the regional hospital in the nearby town of Kaffrine.

"We note with great pain and sadness the death of 39 people in this traffic accident near Kaffrine," Sall said.

"We have lost many young people in this accident and tomorrow the prime minister will convene an interministerial council that will involve the world of transport — transporters, drivers, insurers, security services — to look at the measures to be taken."

The government has announced three days of national mourning beginning on Monday, with flags to be flown at half-staff throughout the country.

In a statement, Kaffrine Mayor and Urbanism Minister Abdoulaye Saydou Sow said the accident occurred between 2 and 3 am on Sunday and was caused by a burst tire.

He said the Kaffrine morgue was "saturated" and that bodies were being sent to another morgue in Kaolack, a city 65 kilometers away.

Public prosecutor Cheikh Dieng had previously said in a statement that early investigations suggested a public passenger bus had a burst tire and swerved off course.

It then crashed "head-on with another bus coming in the opposite direction", he said.

Sow said he and several other ministers had visited the injured in Kaffrine and Kaolack on Sunday.

The delegation included Land Transport Minister Mansour Faye, Health Minister Marie Khemesse Ngom, and Territorial Equity and National Solidarity Minister Samba Ndiobene Ka.

Amadou Mame Diop, president of the National Assembly, said in a statement that he and "all the Members of Parliament share the grief of the entire Senegalese people" and commended "the rapid response of the emergency services".

Agencies via Xinhua