President Macky Sall announced on social media that twenty-three people lost their lives on Wednesday following a bus crash in northern Senegal.
“I call for even more caution on the road”, Sall said in a message posted on X.
Earlier, both a national fire brigade official and a first responder informed media that 22 people had died, and 52 others sustained injuries in the incident.
The accident occurred in the village of Ngeune Sarre in the Louga region, as reported by the authorities.
The authorities did not specify the cause of the accident.
In January, a tragic collision in the same area near Louga resulted in the loss of 19 lives and left 24 others injured.
The previous week, a bus collision in the central region of Senegal claimed the lives of around 40 people.
The incident on January 8 sparked widespread criticism against the authorities concerning the frequency of accidents on Senegal’s roads and their apparent lack of action to prevent such occurrences.
Tragedies on the road are often exacerbated across many countries in Africa by factors such as dilapidated vehicles, reckless driving, and the involvement of corrupt law-enforcement officials.