The toll in one of West Africa`s deadliest road accidents rose to 67 Sunday with the discovery of another body following the crash in Burkina Faso, authorities said, warning it could rise further.

FRANKFURT, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - German federal and regional transport officials banned 60-tonne, 25-meter (yard) 'Gigaliners' from the country's roads Wednesday on the grounds they were too dangerous.

The debate in a hub of European road transport was followed closely by neighbours where authorisation of the behemoths is also being debated.

'Gigaliners', also known as 'EuroCombis' or 'Gigatrucks', are semi-tractor trailors with an additional trailor, or a tractor cab with two trailers.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - At least 26 people were killed and 87 injured in two accidents in the same location in Santa Catarina state in southern Brazil, federal highway police said Wednesday.

In the first accident near Descanso late Tuesday, a bus carrying some 20 passengers slammed head-on into a truck, and both vehicles flipped over a ridge and caught fire, killing seven people, Santa Catarina police said.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - At least 25 people were killed and 80 injured in two accidents in the same location on a road in Santa Catarina state in southern Brazil, radio CBN said Wednesday.

In the first accident late Tuesday night near Descanso, a highway bus carrying some 40 passengers hit two trucks, setting all three vehicles on fire.

Two hours later while emergency workers were still attending to victims of the first crash, another car lost its brakes and crashed into a number of vehicles at the same location, including those helping in the rescue.

BEIJING, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - A major upgrade on a road that takes tourists to Mount Everest base camp has been completed, although it remains unpaved, Chinese state press said Wednesday.

Four months of repair work have left the road on China's Tibetan plateau much smoother and wider, cutting travel times on the 110-kilometre (68-mile) sand and stone road in half, Xinhua news agency said.

NAIROBI, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - At least 11 people were killed Tuesday when a passenger bus plunged into a flooded river in western Kenya, police said.

Four people, including the driver, managed to swim to safety after the bus lost control and plunged into River Sio near the border with Uganda, regional police commander Peter Kavila told AFP.

'We have pulled out 11 bodies from the river and four others, including the driver, are still admitted in hospital,' he added.

NEW DELHI, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - A New Delhi court on Monday ordered the city to submit a plan this week for phasing out speeding private buses that have claimed almost 100 lives in a spate of accidents this year, a report said.

The court order came after a bus plowed into a crowd of pedestrians Sunday, killing at least eight people and sparking violent protests.

Police fired tear gas and used batons on an outraged crowd as residents and relatives of the crash victims beat up the bus driver, smashed the vehicle and blocked roads for hours to protest the accident.

BRUSSELS, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission on Monday proposed the mandatory introduction of brake assist systems into new cars from 2009, in order to cut down the number of deaths on Europe's roads.

The brake assist system (BAS) consists of a monitor which measures the pressure exerted by the vehicle's driver on the brakes. When a certain level of pressure is detected, maximum braking is automatically applied.

LUSAKA, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Fifteen people were killed and 13 others were seriously injured after a bus they were travelling in collided with a truck in northern Zmabia, police said Sunday.

The 15 passengeers died on the spot late Saturday in Chingola, a small mining town about 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of the capital Lusaka, police spokesman Chrispin Kapela said.

'The 15 passangers have been confirmed dead while 13 others are admitted at the hospital but with very serious injuries,' Kapela told AFP.

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - A minibus lost control and overturned on a South African road on Saturday, killing twelve children and seriously injuring six, public radio and SABC television reported.

The injured, including the minibus driver, were taken to a local hospital.

The accident occurred in the northeastern Limpopo region, as the children were returning from Johannesburg, according to regional Minister for Roads and Transport, Justice Pitso.

TEHRAN, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - Seventeen people were killed and 21 injured on Saturday when a truck collided with a bus in northern Iran, the state news agency IRNA reported.

It said the collision, on a road leading to the village of Ab-Ali 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Tehran, occurred when the truck veered out of its lane due to driver fatigue.

Iran's roads are among the most dangerous in the world. At least 100,000 people in the country of 70 million have died in road accidents over the past five years.

MANILA, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday it will lend Afghanistan 176 million dollars to complete a 'ring road' highway that will link the northern part of the country to the west.

The grant will be used in the construction of a 193-kilometre (120-mile) stretch of road between the western towns of Bala Murghab and Amalick, the ADB said in a statement from its Manila headquarters.

DOHA, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - Work on building a 40-kilometre (25 mile) causeway between Qatar and Bahrain will begin by May next year at a cost of two billion dollars, local media reported on Sunday.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation (QBCF) and a consortium led by state-owned Qatari Diar and French construction firm Vinci, the Gulf Times newspaper reported.

TEHRAN, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Thirteen people were killed when a truck carrying diesel fuel collided with a passenger bus in southeastern Iran, state television reported on Saturday.

Another 15 people were injured in the accident on a road between Chabahar and Iranshahr in Sistan-Baluchestan province late on Friday.

Iran's roads are among the most dangerous in the world. At least 100,000 people in the country of 70 million have died in road accidents over the past five years.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Six Bangladeshi workers were killed and two others seriously injured Wednesday when their minibus collided head-on with a truck, a security source said.

The source said the accident took place on the seventh ring road, some 25 kilometres (16 miles) south of Kuwait City.

Around 200,000 Bangladeshis work in oil-rich Kuwait, mostly as domestic helpers and in other unskilled jobs.

MOSCOW, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Russian road deaths have shot up by six percent to 20,000 this year, a high ranking interior ministry official said Wednesday, RIA Novosti reported.

'In the first eight months of the year, 20,000 people were killed in road accidents, which is a six percent rise over the same period in 2006,' Vladimir Kuzin, deputy head of the traffic accidents' department in the ministry, said.

The official said there had been a total of 150,000 accidents in those eight months and that 190,000 people had also been injured.

MARSEILLE, France, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - Eleven people were injured early Saturday when a Belgian coach taking around 50 Dutch holidaymakers to Spain collided with a van on a motorway in the south of France, police said.

Eight passengers on the coach were injured as well as the driver, whose condition was described as critical. The other two injured were passengers in the van which was on its way to Morocco.

The motorway between Nimes and Orange was closed for three hours while emergency services dealt with the accident.

BUDAPEST, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Three people were killed and 25 injured when a local bus overturned on Wednesday near Bekescsaba in southeastern Hungary, police said.

The condition of 10 of the injured was described as serious.

'All we know is that the bus... fell for an unknown reason into a ditch while taking a turn,' said Jozsef Pelleg of the Bekes county police.

Three helicopters and 15 ambulances were at the scene, but rescue operations were being hampered by pouring rain, a spokesman for the emergency services said.

BUCHAREST, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Five mourners were crushed to death Tuesday and seven wounded when a truck ploughed into a funeral procession in Romania in pounding rain, police said.

Witnesses said the trucker lost control of his vehicle after a bend, hurtling it into the cortege near the central-western town of Cluj.

Four of the injured were in serious condition and were taken to hospital.

Romania has one of the worst road safety records in Europe with 6,617 serious accidents recorded in 2006, which killed 2,464 people.

NAIROBI, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - At least 27 people were killed and about 20 injured Saturday when a bus collided with a truck in southern Tanzania, police said.

'The accident occurred at Chimala area,' about 810 kilometres (506 miles) west of Dar es Salaam, police spokesman Stephen Mwinamila told AFP, and gave the casualty figures.

The bus was travelling to Dar es Salaam, from Tunduma, a trading post on the frontier with Zambia.

LAGOS, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - At least 20 people were killed when a bus collided with a fuel tanker in southwestern Nigeria, a newspaper said Tuesday.

The Nigerian Tribune said the accident occurred on a busy highway linking the economic capital Lagos to the third largest city of Ibadan on Monday and also left several people injured.

The driver of the bus apparently lost control before ramming into an approaching truck transporting petrol.

Accidents occur regularly on Nigeria's poorly-maintained roads due to speeding and a disregard for basic traffic rules.

NAIROBI, Aug 31, 2007 (AFP) - The death toll from a road accident in western Kenya climbed to 28 after seven injured patients died overnight, police said Friday.

Twenty one died on the spot late Thursday when a truck lost control and rammed into three vans negotiating a sharp bend in near Kisii township, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital.

NAIROBI, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured on Thursday when a lorry smashed into two passenger vans in western Kenya, police said.

The lorry lost control and rammed into the two vans that were negotiating a a sharp bend in near Kisii township, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital.

'At least 20 died on the spot and more than 33 others taken to hospital, most of them with serious injuries,' said Nyanza province police commander Grace Kaindi.

KISUMU, Kenya, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - Twenty two people were killed and several injured when an large articulated truck smashed into a passenger bus in western Kenya, police and medics said Wednesday.

Twenty people died after the lorry lost control and rammed into the oncoming bus in the town of Yala, area police commander Humprey Wanzala told AFP.

Two more patients died while being transferred for specialised treatment, bringing the toll to 22, said Brimus Ochieng, a medic in the Yala hospital.

'It was a very bad accident,' said Wanzala.

KISUMU, Kenya, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - Twenty people were killed and several injured when an articulated lorry (US: tractor trailer) smashed into a passenger bus in western Kenya, police said Wednesday.

Thirteen were killed on the spot when the lorry lost control and rammed into the oncoming bus in the town of Yala, a police offical said.

Five people died while being evacuated and two passed away in hospital, he added.

'So far, reports indicate 20 people died ... it was a very bad accident,' area police commander Humprey Wanzala told AFP.

LJUBLJANA, Aug 27, 2007 (AFP) - Seven people have died in a car accident on the outskirts of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, police said Monday.

'A 27-year-old driver of a vehicle with Romanian registration plates tried to make a U-turn on the highway crossing to the opposite lane where a car driving in the opposite direction crashed straight into it,' a police statement said of the incident which occurred Sunday.

Five people in the Romanian-registered car, whose identity and nationality are unknown, died as well as two Slovenian passengers in the second car.

GENEVA, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Police in Switzerland on Wednesday detained about 20 foreign bikers after they were caught riding at speeds of more than 200 kilometres an hour (124 miles per hour) in what appeared to be a trans-European 'cannonball' bike run.

Two of the bikers forced their way through a police roadblock in southwestern Switzerland but were later caught on the Simplon mountain pass, which heads into Italy, the Valais regional police force said.

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 19, 2007 (AFP) - Twenty-two people were killed in South Africa when a minibus taxi collided with a truck, trapping passengers who burned to death in an ensuing blaze, radio reported Sunday.

SABC radio news reported that the minibus taxi burst into flames after ramming into a truck in the Mpumalanga province in the north-east of the country late Saturday night.

Police spokesman Nicholas Ntiwane said the truck was trying to turn right when the speeding minibus failed to stop and drove into it.

RIGA, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - A record 2,000 trucks were Thursday blocked in traffic jams on Latvia's frontier with Russia and the snarls were expected to worsen, the Baltic country's border guard service said.

Over 1,700 Russia-bound heavy goods vehicles were caught in a queue at the crossing at Terehova in eastern Latvia, which is on the main highway to Moscow, and around 350 further north at Grebneva, on the road to Saint Petersburg, the border service said.

MOSCOW, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - Nearly 16,500 people have died in road accidents in Russia since January, police said Wednesday citing an eight percent increase from the year before.

There were 16,472 people killed and 154,919 injured since the beginning of the year, according to Vladimir Kouzin, who spoke to Interfax agency.

The figures were released just days after Russian authorities stiffened penalties for those who break road rules.

The tougher law went into effect last Saturday in an effort to try to diminish the number of accidents in Russia.

TOKYO, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - A Japanese motorcyclist cruised two kilometres (1.5 miles) down a road without noticing his right leg had been severed, media reports said Tuesday.

Police suspect that Kazuo Nagata, 54, was unable to feel the pain as it was so acute, newspapers said.

Osada was on a ride with some 10 friends Monday when he lost his right leg from the knee down after hitting a dividing barrier on a road in central Shizuoka prefecture, according to the online edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun.

MADRID, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Five people were killed and 47 injured Monday when a coach veered off a motorway and overturned in southern Spain, police said.

The accident occurred as the coach travelling to the city of Jerez was exiting the A4 motorway in the southern Andalusia region.

It was not immediately known what caused the crash, but Spanish media were speculating the driver may have been trying to tune in the radio and lost control of the coach.

HARARE, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - At least nine people were killed and around 50 injured when a bus collided with a car in north-eastern Zimbabwe, a state-run daily reported Monday.

A police spokesman told The Herald that the nine victims died on the spot when a bus heading to Harare from the city of Mount Darwin rammed into car on Sunday afternoon, 107 kilometres (66 miles) northeast from the capital.

Six of the 50 injured are still in hospital.

ZAGREB, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Two people died and dozens were injured when a coach overturned on a bend on a road in central Croatia early Friday, police said.

Most of the passengers, including 43 wounded who were taken to hospital, were from Serbia, said police spokeswoman Tanja Petric. She was unable to identify the deceased passengers.

'The coach, registered in Croatia, was travelling between Belgrade and Split and overturned at 3:00 am (0130 GMT)' at the town of Karlovac, she said.

National television said that two women were killed in the bus crash.

ZAGREB, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Two people died and dozens were injured when a coach overturned on a bend on a coastal road in Croatia early Friday, police said.

Most of the passengers, including 43 wounded who were taken to hospital, were from Serbia, said police spokeswoman Tanja Petric. She was unable to identify the deceased passengers.

'The coach, registered in Croatia, was travelling between Belgrade and Split and overturned at 3:00 am (0130 GMT)' at Karlovac, central Croatia, she said.

WARSAW, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Poland's transport sector, in the spotlight after the second deadly bus crash in France in the space of three weeks, Wednesday complained of a staffing crisis sparked by an exodus of qualified drivers to Western Europe.

'We are seeing a huge wave of good drivers going abroad,' notably to Britain, Jan Buczek, head of Poland's ZMPD international road transport association, told reporters.

MOSCOW, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Hardened Moscow residents Wednesday learnt that the ground could literally collapse under their feet as a daily listed 170 'unstable' public spaces.

The mass circulation Komsomolskaya Pravda published excerpts from an officially compiled list of streets, major highways and squares where ground collapses are a regular occurrence or an imminent threat.

The newspaper detailed three recent earth collapses, all last weekend, which left craters in various parts of the city, including one seven metres (23 feet) long and a metre deep.

LILLE, France, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - At least three people were killed and 25 injured early Wednesday when a Polish-registered coach overturned on a motorway in northern France, emergency services said.

It was the second fatal accident in less than three weeks involving a coach from Poland.

Six of the injured, who included teenagers, were in serious condition although their lives were not thought to be in danger.

LILLE, France, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - At least two people were killed early Wednesday when a Polish coach overturned as it was leaving the motorway in northern France, emergency services said.

It was the second fatal accident in less than a month involving a Polish coach.

Another 16 people were injured, six of them seriously, among the 40 passengers on the coach, which had come from Belgium.

The accident happened as the coach was taking a slip road to a service area. No other vehicle was involved, police said.

WASHINGTON, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - Nine out of 10 Americans feel that sending text messages from a mobile phone while driving is as dangerous as drinking and driving, but admit to doing it anyway, a poll published on Tuesday showed.

Although 89 percent of the 2,049 adults polled online by Harris Interactive said texting while driving was dangerous and should be banned, and 92 percent said it was as bad as having a few drinks and driving, 66 percent of respondents admitted to reading text messages while at the wheel.