Death toll in Mali bus accident rises to 40

(Reuters) - The death toll in a bus accident near the southern Malian town of Kenieba on Tuesday has risen to 40, Burkina Faso's government said in a statement Thursday, adding that its citizens were among the dead.

Mali's transport ministry said on Tuesday that at least 31 people were killed when a bus bound for Burkina Faso plunged off a bridge over a river.

(Reporting Anait Miridzhanian, Writing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Toby Chopra)