Fifty people have been killed and 27 injured following a crash in eastern Guinea involving a lorry in which they were travelling to a weekly market, according to government statement.

A witness told the AFP news agency by telephone that the lorry, travelling from Moribadou to Beyla for the weekly market, "was travelling downhill at high speed when its brakes failed" and it plunged into a ravine.

The injured had been taken

"It was a lorry ... [carrying passengers] that was the cause of this serious accident which has plunged numerous families into mourning," Alhassane Conde, the territorial administration minister, was quoted as saying in the statement which confirmed the death toll.

The 27 injured were said to be in serious condition in the Beyla hospital. According to the witness, "all the victims were buried in a common grave at the accident site, with the help of the Rio Tinto mining company", which extracts iron ore from the Simandou range in the country's mountainous, eastern region.