42 PASSENGERS KILLED IN GAS TANK EXPLOSION
At least 42 passengers have been confirmed dead, Zimbabwe police said on Friday, after a suspected gas tank exploded on a bus, with pictures showing the burnt-out wreckage of the vehicle.
“At the moment we know that more than 42 people died,” police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told AFP after the accident late on Thursday, with state media reporting a gas tank belonging to a passenger was believed to have exploded.
“Our police officers are at the scene,” Charamba added.
The state-owned Herald newspaper said on its Twitter feed that “it is suspected a gas tank belonging to one of the passengers caused the inferno in the bus.
“Dozens have been confirmed dead and several others injured through burns.”
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation published photographs showing the destroyed vehicle on a highway from the South African border crossing to the second city Bulawayo.
Last week, 47 people were killed when two buses collided on a road between the capital Harare and the eastern town of Rusape.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa said road safety had to be improved after that crash.
Traffic accidents are common in Zimbabwe, where roads are riddled with potholes due to years of underfunding and neglect, and driving standards can be poor.
In June last year, 43 people were killed in a bus crash in the north, along the highway leading to neighbouring Zambia.
More Stories
ELECTRICITY TARIFF: SENATE TEMPORARILY STEPS DOWN ADOPTION OF REPORT DEMANDING SUSPENSION OF IMPLEMENTATION
A report that asked the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to halt the multi-year tariff order (MYTO), 2024—which authorised a...
SENATE PASSES ESTABLISHMENT OF NORTH-WEST DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION’S BILL
The North West Development Commission law, which aims to solve the issues affecting the seven states in the geographical zone,...
(PHOTOS): POLICE ARREST THREE SUSPECTED KIDNAPPERS, CULTIST, OTHERS IN DELTA
Five suspects in robbery, cultism, and kidnapping have been taken into custody by the Delta State Police Command. This was...
ALLEGED BRIBERY: KANO CHIEF JUDGE REASSIGNS GANDUJE’S CASE TO ANOTHER JUDGE
The issue against Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the former governor of Kano State and National Chairman of the All Progressive...
BEWARE, WE’RE ON THE HUNT 24 /7, EFCC ALERTS FRAUDSTERS
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned scammers that it is "on the hunt" for them twenty-four hours...
POLICE RESCUE ADDITIONAL SEVEN ABDUCTED VARSITY STUDENTS IN KOGI
Seven more students from the Confluence University of Science and Technology in Osara, Kogi State, who had been kidnapped have...