27 dead in head-on minibus, truck crash in Zimbabwe

A collision between a minibus taxi carrying church members and a haulage truck killed 27 people on Friday in Zimbabwe, a police spokesperson said, in the latest road disaster to hit the southern African country.

Paul Nyathi, the police spokesperson, said on Saturday that members of a popular indigenous African Christian denomination, known for wearing white robes, were travelling for a conference when the minibus taxi collided head-on with the truck Friday night.

The truck was trying to overtake another vehicle when it crashed with the minibus taxi on a major highway near Chivhu town, 132 kilometres (82 miles) south of the capital, Harare, Nyathi said in a statement. State-run broadcaster ZBC News, citing a provincial government minister, said 23 people died at the scene, while others succumbed to their injuries after being admitted to a local hospital.

The minibus taxi burst into flames and was reduced to a shell following the collision, according to local media, which published pictures of the wreckage. Nyathi said both vehicles were carrying an “unspecified” number of passengers.

Road accidents involving crowded buses, minibus taxis and unregulated sedan taxis are common in Zimbabwe and are often blamed on dangerous driving and poor road conditions.

Zimbabwe is among the countries with the worst road safety records, with 94 per cent of road accidents attributed to human error, according to authorities.

Across Africa, road crashes kill about 300,000 people annually, roughly a quarter of the global toll, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which says the continent has the world’s highest road fatality rate. This is despite the continent of 1.5 billion people accounting for just about 3 per cent of the global vehicle fleet.