Graves were dug beside the church of São Lourenço, on the island of Fogo, on Sunday as Cape Verde began burying the victims of Saturday night's crash. A bus returning from an outing near the Pico do Fogo volcano left the road, fell down a slope of about 30 meters and killed at least 25 people, most of them children and teenagers. Authorities confirmed the toll in a statement read on the country's public radio on Sunday.

The bus was carrying 32 people back to the town of São Filipe. The outing was an annual trip organized privately by the driver himself, who was also killed, shortly before the start of the school year. According to Folha de S.Paulo, Brazil's largest newspaper, education authorities said the trip had not been organized by local schools, although many of the passengers were elementary and high school students.

Witnesses told the news agency AFP that one of the bus tires burst shortly before the fall. The vehicle reportedly lost control, left the road and plunged into a ravine about 30 meters deep in a hard-to-reach valley. Other passengers were injured, some of them seriously, said José Canuto, head of the civil defense service of the municipality of São Filipe. There has been no official confirmation of the cause so far.

What is known so far

• At least 25 dead, most of them children and teenagers, on a bus carrying 32 people.
• Other passengers were injured, some seriously, according to the São Filipe civil defense service.
• The first burials took place on Sunday beside the church of São Lourenço, on Fogo island.
• No official cause has been released; witnesses report a burst tire.

Crashes of this magnitude are rare in Cape Verde, a West African archipelago of about 550,000 people in the Atlantic, off the coast of Senegal, where roads are generally in good condition, according to AFP. The excursion was a yearly tradition held shortly before classes resume.