Bus accident in Ivory Coast kills at least 16 people, officials say

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — A collision between a long-distance bus and a dump truck in Ivory Coast has killed at least 16 people and injured more than 50, the Transportation Ministry said.

The bus was traveling from the southwestern Ivory Coast city of San Pedro to the neighboring country Burkina Faso when it collided with the dump truck Sunday evening, the ministry said.

The accident killed 16 people and injured 51 who were taken to a regional hospital, the ministry said late Sunday evening. It said that the ministry had opened an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.

Ivory Coast has one of the world's highest rates of road deaths, with about 21 per 100,000 people, according to the United Nations. Ivory Coast's Transportation Ministry says at least 1,000 people annually are killed in road crashes in the country.

Last December, a collision between two minibuses killed 26 people and injured 28.