More than 20 people have died and 16 have been badly injured in a head-on crash Tuesday between a minibus and a lorry in Mali, the government said.
"A serious traffic accident occurred between a minibus and a lorry carrying sand" about 50 kilometres east of the capital Bamako, a statement said.
An "initial toll" put the number of dead at 24, with 15 people seriously injured, it said.
"According to initial accounts, a tire on the minibus blew out, causing the vehicle to swerve into the path of the lorry coming the other way. The head-on collision was very violent," the government added.
It offered its condolences and reminded transport operators to follow the rules of the road and maintain their vehicles properly.
"The shock was so violent that there is nothing left of the minibus... several people are in hospital, hanging between life and death," said a Mali Red Cross worker, Oumar Sylla.At least 20 people have been killed and 11 seriously injured after a minibus and a truck collided in the south of Mali, the country's transport ministry said on Wednesday.
The accident occurred on Tuesday at 8pm (20:00 GMT) on a major road linking the capital Bamako with the town of Narena on the border with Guinea, the ministry said in a statement.The injured were taken to Bamako, it added.
Excessive speed of the truck, coupled with a technical problem, was the "probable cause" of the accident, the statement said.
Road accidents are a regular occurrence in Mali, where the poor state of motorways has been a source of social tension.
Travelling by road is still the principal means of transport for people and goods in the landlocked West African country, however.
As well as fighting a growing coronavirus outbreak, Mali has been struggling to contain an armed conflict that first broke out in the north of the country in 2012.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict, which has since spread to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
