BAMAKO, Aug 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A bus collided with a lorry killing 41 people and injuring 33 more during heavy rains in central MALI, the government said.
Transport Minister Dembele Madina Sissoko said the dead included a baby after the passenger bus collided with a lorry carrying agricultural produce near the town of Segou.
He stressed it was a provisional toll, and blamed bad weather.
Three of the injured were seriously hurt, Sissoko added.
The government had at first stated on social media that 37 people were killed in the accident at Zambougou, without detailing the circumstances.
Alassane Traore, governor of the Segou region which includes Zambougou, said the crash “is the consequence of driving in the rain.”
The transport minister said the government will investigate the incident, adding “May Allah welcome the souls of the deceased to paradise.”
Travelling by road is still the principal means of transport for people and goods in the landlocked Sahel nation of some 20 million people.
YAOUNDE: At least 40 people were killed and dozens injured in CAMEROON in three road accidents involving passenger buses, the Ministry of Transport has announced.
The deadliest accident occurred in Batchenga, 60km north of the capital Yaoundé, and killed 22 people in a collision between a travel bus and a truck carrying sand, Transport Minister Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle Bibehe wrote in a statement.
In another accident 16 people died and several others injured about 50 km east of Yaoundé, after another bus collided with a semi-trailer truck.
Finally, a third accident left two people dead and 28 injured in the center of the country.
“These unfortunate incidents, which occurred in the midst of a special campaign of prevention and road safety (…) highlight the negligence of both intercity transport companies and freight carriers,” said the Minister.
“The Minister of Transport informs the transport companies of people and goods, it will proceed from now on to their suspension of any transport activity in case of new involvement in a road accident,” he also wrote.
Road accidents involving passenger buses are relatively frequent and deadly in Cameroon.
In late January, at least 53 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a van carrying fuel in the west. In December, at least 37 people, including ten women and four children, died in another accident.
DAKAR: In neighbouring SENEGAL, 11 people were killed in a road accident in the north of the country on Tuesday morning, the government said.
