At least 38 people have been killed and 87 injured after two buses collided near Kaffrine in central Senegal.

Sunday’s accident took place on the Number 1 national road at 3:15 am (03:15 GMT).

“It was a serious accident,” Colonel Cheikh Fall, head of operations at the National Fire Brigade, told AFP news agency. “There were 125 victims, of whom 38 have died.”

Victims were taken to a hospital and medical center in Kaffrine, he said, adding that the wreckage and demolished buses have since been cleared and normal traffic has resumed.

This is one of the heaviest death tolls from a single incident in recent years in a country where road accidents are common largely because of a lack of driver discipline, poor roads, and decrepit vehicles, according to experts.