33 people killed in road accident in Sudan

In what has been classified as Sudan’s worst road accidents for the year, 33 people were killed and 24 injured when two inter-city buses collided Wednesday evening.               

According to reports, a full-sized passenger bus and a minibus collided halfway between Khartoum and Wad Medani.               

"The minibus tried to overtake another vehicle and then collided with the bus," which was travelling in the opposite direction, a police statement said.                 Driving skills in Sudan have been classified as poor and hazardous and road accidents often involving buses are relatively common in the country.              

The latest follows complaints by city bus drivers in Khartoum that Sudan's surging inflation and sinking currency have driven maintenance costs out of control.             
In October, 13 people died and 26 were injured when a passenger bus blew a tire and collided with a minibus on the road to Wad Medani southeast of the capital, official media reported at the time.              

Twenty-one people died in April 2009 when a bus and a truck collided south of Khartoum.