24 killed in bus-truck collision in Zimbabwe

A head-on collision between a bus and a truck killed 24 people in Zimbabwe on Thursday, police said.

Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said the accident happened near Beitbridge, a town on the southern border with South Africa.

The bus was travelling from the capital, Harare, to Beitbridge with 65 passengers on board. Nyathi said preliminary investigations indicated that the bus was trying to overtake another vehicle when it collided with the haulage truck. He said police are uncertain how many people were injured.

State media showed pictures of some covered bodies lying on the ground and the mangled wreckages of the bus and truck. The State-run Herald newspaper quoted a government medical officer in Beitbridge as saying 17 people died at the scene of the accident, while seven others died from head injuries at a hospital in Beitbridge. The newspaper reported that 30 others were injured and in the hospital.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he was horrified and heartbroken and declared the crash a national disaster. He said the government will take care of funeral and burial expenses.

“Our nation does not deserve this at all, let alone experiencing such a bloody incident at the beginning of the year,” Mnangagwa said in a statement, urging drivers to exercise “extreme caution on the roads.”

Road accidents involving buses are frequent in the southern African country, where drivers often exceed the speed limit to make as many trips as possible per day.

Roads are also poor. The road where the accident occurred was recently resurfaced as part of government attempts to improve infrastructure.