At least 40 people were killed and 85 others injured when two buses collided head-on on a main road in Senegal’s central Kafrin region, the government said on Sunday.
Images from the incident showed the front of a white bus completely mangled, with blood-soaked seats, personal belongings and a shoe strewn around the tree-lined crash site.
Experts say road accidents are common in Senegal, mainly due to driver error, bad roads and old vehicles, but the latest disaster caused one of the biggest losses of life from a single incident in recent years Is.
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 just outside the village of Sikilo on Sunday.
“In the wake of this tragedy, the head of state expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured,” the government said.