Updated

Government officials say 26 people have died after their bus crashed in the tiny coastal West African nation of Togo.

More than 40 others were wounded and taken to health centers in small towns in the area early Friday.

The victims were mainly merchants from the neighboring nation of Burkina Faso who were traveling to the Togolese capital for business.

Burkina Faso's government said in a statement read on national radio and television that the crash happened on a bridge that was being repaired.

Burkina Faso, a landlocked country on the southern edge of the Sahel desert, depends on importing basic products from neighboring coastal nations like Togo and Ivory Coast.