DAKAR, July 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Twenty-three people died when a bus crashed in northern Senegal, President Macky Sall announced on social media.
“I call for even more caution on the road”, Sall said in a message posted on Twitter.
Earlier, a national fire brigade official and a first responder said that 22 people had died and 52 others were injured.
The accident happened in the village of Ngeune Sarre in Louga region, they said.
They did not specify the cause or time of the accident.
Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome was on his way to the accident site, a staffer said.
In January, 19 people were killed and 24 injured in a collision in the same area, near Louga.
The previous week, around 40 people died in a bus collision in the centre of Senegal.
That tragedy, on Jan 8, prompted a wave of criticism against authorities over the frequency of accidents on Senegal’s roads, and the lack of action taken to prevent them.
The government responded by announcing a long list of measures, including a ban on overnight bus journeys. But transport professionals said that many of the measures were unrealistic.
Across many countries in Africa, dilapidated vehicles, reckless driving and corrupt law-enforcement officials all contribute to tragedies on the road. — NNN-AGENCIES