Kenya bus crash kills 41

A bus crash near the Kenyan town of Narok killed 41 people on Thursday.

The bus plunged into a valley after the driver lost control of the vehicle on a country road about 85 miles west of the capital of Nairobi. As the bus rolled, its roof was torn off.

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Police said more than two dozen other passengers were also injured in the accident.

Four of the dead are reportedly children.

"It is a horrible scene. Bodies are strewn all over," traffic police official Samuel Kimaru told Agence France-Presse by telephone from the scene.

"It is difficult to tell exactly what happened but all indications point to speeding and possibly overloading," he said. "It is quite disturbing."

Police told reporters the driver might have fallen asleep.

"We are having a difficult time recovering the bodies because this place is hilly and bushy," Kimaru also noted.

Traffic accidents are common in Kenya. The World Health Organization reported that between 3,000 and 13,000 Kenyans are killed in crashes each year. Main roads often lack reflective signs and guardrails, and a third of those killed in road accidents each year are travelling in "unsafe forms of public transportation."