Forty people were killed during a collision between two buses on the night of Saturday to Sunday in Kaffrine.
Mo12345lemonde with AFP
This is the deadliest accident of recent years for the country. In Senegal, the president, Macky Sall, has just declared a national mourning of three days after a collision between two buses which left forty dead and dozens injured on the night of Saturday January 7 to Sunday 8.
The accident took place on Sunday at 3:15 am local (4:15 am from Paris) near the city of Kaffrine, about 250 kilometers south-east of the capital, Dakar, according to the National Sappers Brigade- firefighters. The frontal collision made “thirty-six injured serious and forty-nine wounded”, according to a new provisional assessment communicated by the government.
The head of state, expected on the spot in the afternoon just like the Prime Minister and several members of the government, said he was “deeply saddened by the tragic road accident”. The three -day national mourning is expected to start on Monday. An interdepartmental council will be held on Monday for “taking firm measures on road safety and public transport of travelers,” said the head of state.
the bursting of a tire at the ‘Origin of the drama
“According to the first elements of the investigation (…), a bus assigned to the public transport of travelers, following the bursting of a tire, left its trajectory before hitting another bus from Reverse sense, “said the public prosecutor of Kaolack. The victims were transported to the hospital in Kaffrine, the carcasses of the buses released and the path again open to traffic, according to the firefighters.
The main Senegalese opponent, Ousmane Sonko, candidate for the 2024 presidential election, announced on Twitter postpone a fundraising operation due to the accident and called the authorities to “pay priority attention” to the ‘Road insecurity, a “scourge with disastrous human, social and economic consequences for the country”.
frequent accidents
Bus accidents are frequent in Africa, due to the poor maintenance of vehicles, the poor condition of the roads but also of driving errors, many motorists being holders of permit purchased from corrupt inspectors, without ever having frequented of driving school.
Twenty -one people were killed on Saturday evening in East Africa, in a bus accident on the border between Kenya and Uganda, Ugandan police said on Sunday. Among the people who died in this accident, thirteen are of Kenyan nationality, eight are Ugandan. Police say forty-nine people were injured. According to the first elements of the investigation, the driver has lost control of the vehicle due to excessive speed.
The Ugandan government is preparing new measures to improve road safety after an increase in fatal accidents during the holiday season. According to Ugandan police, one hundred and four road accidents were recorded in just three days, from December 30 to 1 er January, leaving thirty-five dead and one hundred fourteen injured.
Last week, at least fourteen people were killed, and sixty-three injured in a collision between two coaches in Yamoussoukro, in the center of Côte d’Ivoire. Eighteen people died in a collision between two vehicles in northern Nigeria.