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12 killed, 28 injured in Tanzania road accident

Xinhua, December 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least 12 people were killed on the spot and 28 others were injured on Friday after a bus they were travelling in collided head on with a lorry in Tanzania's southern highlands of Kilolo district in Iringa region.

Peter Kakamba, the Iringa regional police commander, said the bus was plying from the east African nation's commercial capital Dar es Salaam to Tunduma near Zambia while the lorry was heading to Dar es Salaam from Njombe.

He said the accident occurred after the front tyre of the lorry which was ferrying timber burst, forcing the driver to lose control and hitting the bus.

Kakamba identified the victims as eight males and four females.

The Iringa regional hospital medical officer, Dr Museleta Nyakiroto, said the victims were yet to be identified.

Dr Nyakiroto said the casualties were still receiving treatment and some of them had lost their limbs.

Lulu Nobert, one of the injured passengers, said he was travelling from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya for the festive season holidays.

"I was asleep when the accident occurred. I thank God that I escaped slightly injured," said Nobert.

The head of traffic police, Mohamed Mpinga, said this week that deaths caused by road accidents have gone down by 242 people this year compared to the same period last year.

Mpinga said while 3,195 people were killed in road accidents in the past 11 months, a total of 3,437 died in the same period last year.

Statistics also indicated that the number of people injured in the accidents has decreased from 13, 495 last year to 8,566 in the past 11 months. Endit