Minibus crash in central Zimbabwe kills at least 27 churchgoers

At least 27 people were killed in a minibus crash in central Zimbabwe after the vehicle carrying churchgoers collided head-on with a truck, police said Saturday. Seven people were injured.

Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said members of a popular Indigenous African Christian denomination, known for wearing white robes, were traveling to a conference on Friday when their minibus collided with a truck on a major highway near the town of Chivhu, about 140 kilometers (87 miles) south of the capital, Harare.

The foreign-registered haulage truck was overtaking another vehicle when it collided with the minibus. Both vehicles were carrying an "unspecified" number of passengers, Nyathi said in a statement.

Footage shared on social media by public broadcaster ZBC showed the mangled minibus charred to a shell.

Zimbabwe faces road safety crisis

Authorities say 94% of road accidents occur due to human error. Many Zimbabweans rely on privately operated minibus taxis, known locally as kombis, for everyday transportation. The vehicles are often criticized for carrying more passengers than allowed.

Zimbabwe’s roads are also riddled with potholes after years of underfunding and neglect, while driving standards can be poor.

In April, at least 18 people were killed when a minibus burst into flames on a highway in southern Zimbabwe. Earlier that month, a woman and her five children were killed when their vehicle collided with a haulage truck on another highway linking Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Road crashes kill about 300,000 people across Africa each year, accounting for roughly a quarter of the global road death toll, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The continent has the world’s highest road fatality rate, the commission says.

This is despite Africa’s 1.5 billion people accounting for only about 3% of the world’s vehicle fleet.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery