COTONOU: Rescuers have recovered ten additional bodies from a Beninese river where a bus plunged during the weekend, raising the accident’s total death toll to thirty-seven.
Civil protection authority director Abdel Aziz Bio Djibril confirmed six people remain missing after the bus fell from a bridge into the Oueme river between Saturday and Sunday night.
He added that search operations continue for any potential survivors.
“On the first day, twenty-seven bodies were fished out, and on the second day, ten bodies, which makes a total of thirty-seven bodies fished out,“ said Bio Djibril.
Nine survivors were hospitalised on Sunday in stable condition.
The STM company bus departed from neighbouring Togo’s capital Lome carrying fifty-two passengers.
The accident occurred on main Interstate 2 road crossing Benin from economic capital Cotonou to northern Malanville near the Niger border.
“There are many Nigeriens among the passengers, but also Beninese and likely other foreign nationals,“ said Bio Djibril.
Niger remains locked in a border standoff with Benin following a two-year diplomatic dispute.
Passengers travelling to Niger’s capital Niamey typically disembark at Malanville and cross the border undetected to continue their journey. – AFP
