At least 25 people were killed when a passenger bus veered off a mountain road and plunged down a steep ravine on the island of Fogo late on Saturday, local officials and media said Sunday, in one of the deadliest road accidents recorded in the West African island nation in recent years.
The bus came off the road connecting Chã das Caldeiras to Campanas de Cima, in the northern part of the São Filipe municipality, at around 9 pm local time, falling roughly 30 metres onto rocky ground near a riverbed.
Cape Verde Bus Crash: What happened during the accident?
According to Cape Verdean newspaper A Nação, the vehicle was carrying children and teenagers at the time it left the road in the mountainous northern section of the island. The bus driver was among those killed, local reports said, and the exact cause of the crash had not yet been determined.
Cape Verde Bus Crash: Who were the victims of the crash?
Local media said the majority of those killed were children and teenagers, with reports from the Cape Verdean news agency Inforpress indicating the bus had mainly been carrying young high school students. However, José Pedro Gonçalves, the local delegate for the Ministry of Education, clarified that the trip had not been organised by any educational institution.
Cape Verde Bus Crash: Why has the death toll continued to rise?
The toll climbed steadily through Saturday night and into Sunday as rescue teams reached more of those involved. João José Canuto, the municipality’s civil protection councillor, told Inforpress on Saturday, when the provisional toll stood at 18, that the number of victims was likely to increase given the difficulty of the terrain surrounding the crash site. By Sunday, Nuías Silva, president of the São Filipe municipal council, confirmed the toll had risen to at least 25, with numerous others injured.
Cape Verde Bus Crash: How has Cape Verde’s president responded?
President José Maria Pereira Neves described the accident as “a great catastrophe” in a statement posted to his official Facebook page, as authorities moved to coordinate emergency assistance for the affected communities on the island.
Cape Verde Bus Crash: Why is the rescue operation proving so difficult?
Rescue efforts have been complicated by the remoteness and inaccessibility of the crash site, located in a rocky area near a riverbed that cannot be reached directly by vehicle. Given the scale of the injuries reported among survivors, officials have cautioned that the confirmed death toll could still climb further as recovery operations continue.
Cape Verde Bus Crash: What is known so far about the cause of the crash?
Cape Verdean authorities have not yet released a detailed account of how many passengers were aboard the bus at the time of the crash, nor a full breakdown of the identities of those killed. National and regional officials say the investigation into the precise circumstances of the accident remains ongoing.
Cape Verde Bus Crash: What is the wider context for the island nation?
Fogo, a volcanic island roughly 480 kilometres off the coast of Senegal, is part of the wider Cape Verde archipelago, an Atlantic nation of roughly half a million people. The disaster ranks among the deadliest single traffic accidents recorded in the country in recent memory, in a region where mountain roads across the volcanic islands are often narrow, poorly lit and subject to steep, winding terrain. Cape Verdean authorities are expected to provide further updates on the investigation and the identities of victims in the coming days as recovery operations at the remote crash site continue.
