Bystanders gathered to observe the mangled wreckage

At least 53 people have died in a road accident north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Reports suggest that a bus taking passengers from a mining district to the capital collided with an oncoming truck.

The bus, operated by the Zambian Postal Service, was on its way from the Copperbelt mining province to the capital early on Thursday when the accident happened.

Zambian Information Minister Kennedy Sakeni said at least 53 people had died in the crash near the town of Chibombo, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the capital. A further 22 people were taken to local hospitals.

Sources said 51 on the bus were killed, while the truck driver and his assistant also died.

Zambia’s Road Transport and Safety Agency director Zindaba Soko attributed the cause of the accident to speeding. The truck driver is believed to have lost control of his vehicle.

Television footage showed wreckage and bodies strewn along the highways, which links Lusaka with neighboring Tanzania.

In a statement, Zambian President Michael Sata said he had sent condolences to the families affected in the crash. “We pray that the Lord almighty grants the bereaved families comfort and strength during this very painful period,” said Sata.

The incident is the worst in the country in recent years. About 1,200 people are killed each year on Zambia’s roads, according to official data.

In 2005, 44 children died in a bus accident on a school outing from the northern Luapula province to Lusaka.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, (L) French President Francois Hollande (C) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) chat during a roundtable meeting at the EU Headquarters (Photo: BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/Getty Images)
Long-term European Union budget proposal divides leaders 07.02.2013

European Union leaders were prepared for a late night, as talks on a long-term budget for the bloc got underway in Brussels. Britain and France are among the countries at loggerheads over the financial way forward.
Demonstrators burn documents of the Ennahda party, outside the party’s headquarters, during a demonstration in Gafsa February 6, 2013. Thousands of Tunisians demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry headquarters following the slaying of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid. REUTERS/Stringer (TUNISIA – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)
Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party rejects PM’s plan for technocrat government 07.02.2013

Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party has rejected a plan by the prime minister to form a government of technocrats amid unrest sparked by the killing of an opposition leader. Some protests have turned violent.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev walks near a Soviet-era fortifications during his visit to one of the Kuril islands on November 1, 2010. Medvedev stoked Japan’s ire on Monday with a visit to the Kuril islands, a remote territory at the heart of a decades-long dispute with Tokyo. AFP PHOTO/ RIA-NOVOSTI/ KREMLIN POOL/ MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV (Photo credit should read MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian fighter jets briefly ‘violate’ Japanese airspace 07.02.2013

Japan’s defense ministry has said two Russian fighter jets briefly breached its airspace off the northern tip of the island of Hokkaido, forcing Japanese fighters to scramble in response. Russia denied the intrusion.

Facebook comments:

comments