At least 25 people were killed on Saturday when a passenger bus crashed on the Campanas de Cima route in the mountainous area of Fogo Island in Cape Verde. Most of those who died were teenagers, and several other people were injured.
The scale of the loss is what makes the crash land so hard. A single road accident took a heavy toll on a young group of passengers, turning a routine trip into one of the deadliest traffic disasters reported in the country.
José Maria Pereira Neves called the crash “a great catastrophe” in a statement on his Facebook page, and the president and some other officials were expected to visit the island on Sunday. Local media and officials reported the deaths as word of the wreck spread across Cape Verde, the African island nation where the bus was traveling.
What has not been explained is the cause. Authorities had not determined why the bus went down on the route, and that unanswered question sits beside another harsh detail: seven bodies were immediately buried because of their condition, even before investigators could say what brought the vehicle down.
For now, the deaths stand as the central fact. A passenger bus on Fogo Island went over in a way that killed at least 25 people and injured several more, and the next public visit from the country’s leadership is set for Sunday as the search for an explanation continues.
