Communities on Fogo Island are grieving after a bus crash killed at least 25 people, most of them children or teenagers.
The accident happened on Saturday as the vehicle returned to Sao Filipe following an excursion to the Pico do Fogo volcanic crater. Thirty-two people were on board when the bus left the road and fell into a deep ravine, ending its descent in a rocky, hard to reach valley.
Several passengers were injured, some seriously, according to local authorities. Emergency personnel worked through the night to free people trapped in the wreckage and recover the dead, coping with difficult terrain and limited access to the crash site.
The driver, who organised the trip every year as a gift for pupils he ferried to school, was among those killed. His death compounds the loss for families who had taken the annual excursion as a community event.
President José Maria Neves attended funerals on Sunday for some of the victims and described the accident on social media as "a great catastrophe." His presence underscored the scale of the losses and the national outpouring of grief.
Hospitals and emergency services are treating the injured as families and the wider community confront the immediate aftermath. With funerals under way, Fogo Island faces weeks of recovery and mourning as officials and residents cope with the human and logistical toll of the crash.
