The bus accident happened in the night from Saturday January 7th to Sunday January 8th, 2023, in the village of Sikilo near the town of Kaffrine, about 250 km south-east of the capital Dakar. The government on Sunday evening announced a final figure of 39 dead, 53 injured in hospital and 42 fewer injured being treated at local health centres. “The two buses would have contained 139 passengers at the time of the accident,” the government said in a statement.
Ten of the injured were in “vital emergencies,” President Sall said after walking to the bedside of the victims at Kaffrine Hospital, accompanied by his Prime Minister Amadou Ba.
The head of state, who had previously declared “three days of national mourning from Monday”, promised swift action to avoid another “tragedy” of this kind. “We cannot expose the lives of our compatriots in a transport system that ignores respect for human life,” he said.
The Prime Minister will convene an interministerial council on Monday 9 January to take action on “the condition of vehicles, technical inspection, the issuing of driving licenses or even timetables”.
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