Graves were being dug on Sunday (6) beside the church of São Lourenço, on the island of Fogo. At least 25 people, most of them children and teenagers, died on Saturday night (5), when the bus taking them home from a school outing plunged about 30 meters down a steep slope in Cape Verde. The toll was confirmed in a statement released by the country's public radio.

The bus carried 32 people heading back to São Filipe, the island's main town, after a trip near the Pico do Fogo volcano. Witnesses told local media that one of the tires burst, the driver lost control and the bus left the road and fell down a ravine in a hard-to-reach area. Other passengers were injured, some of them seriously.

The outing was part of an annual trip held just before the school year starts, as is common in the archipelago. According to Folha de S.Paulo, citing the Reuters and AFP news agencies, the ride was arranged privately by the driver himself, who also died, and not by the local schools. Education authorities said many of the passengers were elementary and high school students.

Cape Verde's government is responsible for investigating the causes. President José Maria Pereira Neves called the crash a "great catastrophe" and was expected to visit Fogo on Sunday (6) along with other officials. The circumstances remain under investigation.

By the church of São Lourenço, residents and families attended the burials. According to local press, seven bodies had to be buried immediately because of their condition.

What is known so far

• 25 deaths confirmed, most of them children and teenagers;
• 32 people were on the bus; there are injured passengers, some seriously;
• the fall was about 30 meters, after a tire burst, according to witnesses;
• the outing was annual and was arranged privately by the driver, who died;
• the local schools did not organize the trip, according to education authorities;
• the causes remain under investigation by Cape Verdean authorities.

Cape Verde is a Portuguese-speaking archipelago of about 550,000 people in the Atlantic, off the coast of Senegal in West Africa. Fogo island is best known for the volcano of the same name, the site of the outing that ended in the crash.