No fewer than 25 people were killed and 31 injured in a crash involving a coach and a minibus in Ivory Coast.
In a statement issued by the Transport Minister, Amadou Kone, “all measures have been taken to determine the exact causes of the tragedy, as well as where responsibility lies.” He adds that the accident happened about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from financial capital Abidjan on Wednesday.
He urged Ivorians to be careful on the roads ahead of the Muslim festival of Tabaski known elsewhere as Eid al-Adha which normally sees an increase in traffic right in the middle of the rainy season.
Traffic accidents are common and often deadly in the West African country, with many vehicles and roads poorly maintained.
Crashes are also frequently down to driver error and the practice of buying a license from corrupt examiners is widespread.
In late April, authorities temporarily suspended driving test examiners and replaced them with police officers, to better fight “corruption and fraud”.
The move followed an accident in the country’s north that killed 20 and injured around 40 people.