30 killed in C Africa traffic smash

Thirty people were killed and at least 40 others injured when a lorry crammed with travellers crashed overnight in the Central African Republic, the African peacekeeping force MISCA has said.

A truck "carrying close to 100 people" as well as luggage travelling in a convoy escorted by MISCA left the road and crashed into a ravine in the southwest region of Boali, a source from the peacekeeping operation said yesterday.

"The bodies of victims and those injured were transported by MISCA to health facilities in Bangui."

Last week, a similar incident saw 12 people killed and around 50 injured in CAR's southern Mbaiki region.
 

A chronic lack of infrastructure in the crisis-striken landlocked nation means many travellers are regularly forced to cram into overloaded trucks, which are often barely road-worthy.

Thousands of people have died and nearly a quarter of the population of CAR -- one of the poorest countries on earth -- has been driven from their homes in the chaos that followed a March 2013 coup against long-serving President Francois Bozize.

France has deployed some 2,000 troops to try to stop the killings, and the African Union has sent 5,800 forces who will be folded into a new UN peace mission for CAR to begin on Monday.