Zimbabwe car crash kills 18 people, injures 31

Eighteen people perished while 31 were severely injured after a bus rammed into the back of a truck in central Zimbabwe in the early morning on Sunday, Xinhua has learnt.

The tragedy occurred around 4:30 a.m. local time near Selous along the Harare-Bulawayo road, about 80 km in the southwest of the country's capital of Harare, when a Musanhi bus travelling from Gokwe rammed into the rear of a Two-Keys Transport truck which had broken down, police said.

According to Zimbabwe Republic Police National Traffic Spokesperson Inspector Tigere Chigome, 13 people died on the spot while 4 others had been critically injured and airlifted by a helicopter to the Chegutu District Hospital with one reported dead at Selous Hospital few kilometers from the scene of the accident. Six people on board died on the spot. Seconds later a Mandaza Bus travelling in the same direction also rammed into the same truck and veered off the road before landing by the roadside killing 7 passengers on the spot. The Mandaza bus was coming from Plumtree and had mainly cross- border traders aboard.

Chigome said investigation into the exact cause of the tragedy are in progress. The Two-Key Transport's driver who was still in a state of shock said he had failed to control the truck out of the road after four of the tires went off forcing him to park the truck along the road.

Source: Xinhua