At least 25 people, most of them teenagers, have died in a bus accident on the island of Fogo in Cape Verde. Several others were injured, Notícias do Norte reported.
The accident occurred on the evening of September 5 on a mountain road between Chan das Caldeiras and Campanas de Cima. The bus left the road on a rocky section and fell into a deep gorge. According to local authorities, the height of the fall was about 30 meters.
The bus was mainly high school students. According to preliminary data, they had gone on an excursion that the bus driver organized every year. Authorities emphasize that the trip was not organized by the schools.
The rescue operation was extremely difficult due to the mountainous terrain and the difficult access to the accident site. More than a dozen of the injured were taken to the São Francisco de Asís hospital, some of them in critical condition.
Due to the condition of some of the victims, seven bodies had to be buried almost immediately. The cause of the accident has not yet been determined.
Cape Verdean President José María Pereira Neves called the incident a "major disaster." He and other government officials are scheduled to visit Fogo Island on Sunday.
