Scores die in Burkina Faso accident

Scores die in Burkina Faso accident

At least 59 people have been killed in western Burkina Faso after a bus carrying 75 passengers and a lorry collided and caught fire, an official said.

 
The bus was en route from Koudougou in the centre-west of the country when the accident occurred on Saturday.
 
"We have recorded 59 deaths ... So far the firemen have managed to bring out 41 bodies," Maiza Compaore told the AFP news agency by telephone from the town of Boromo, 167km west of the capital Ouagadougou."
 
A bus and a lorry carrying sugar collided this morning around 05:30 GMT six kilometers from Boromo," she said from the scene of the accident.
 
The bus was heading for neighboring Ivory Coast, she added.
 
The accident was one of the most serious to have occurred in recent years in the west African country.
 
"The two vehicles caught fire in the collision," Compaore said.
  
"The scene is gruesome. The bus is completely 'askew', there are bodies on the road, some are in the wreckage, there are charred bodies which we are still removing. It's really horrible."
  
So far 20 injured, six of them seriously hurt, have been taken from the bus but "it is a very provisional figure because the fire services are still working," she said.
  
"Only 10 of the bodies can be identified; all the other victims are burnt beyond recognition."
 
PHOTO CAPTION
 
A convoy of trucks transport cotton from Burkina Faso into the Ivory Coast.
 
Al-Jazeera
 

Related Articles

Prayer Times

Prayer times for Doha, Qatar Other?
  • Fajr
    04:37 AM
  • Dhuhr
    11:46 AM
  • Asr
    03:07 PM
  • Maghrib
    05:37 PM
  • Isha
    07:07 PM