42 killed in Tanzania bus-truck collision‏

By Peter Saramba Ongiri

ARUSHA, Tanzania 

At least 42 people were killed on Wednesday in a traffic accident in Tanzania's Iringa region.

"Thirty-seven people perished on the spot and five others passed away while undergoing treatment at Mafinga district hospital," Iringa regional police commander Ramadhani Mungyi told The Anadolu Agency by phone.

He said another 22 people were seriously injured in the accident, which occurred when a passenger bus collided head-on with a semi-trailer truck.

"The truck driver was trying to evade a big hole in the middle of the road when he collided with the bus," Mungyi explained.

The truck was travelling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's business capital, to Mbeya, another city in southwestern Tanzania, when it struck the bus.

Hakimu Mwafongo, an eyewitness, said that after evading the hole, the truck driver lost control and veered into the bus lane.

"It is the worst road accident I've ever seen in my life," he told AA by phone.

"It took us more than five hours to extract the bodies of the dead and injured from inside the bus," said Mwafongo.

According to an official report by the country's Police Traffic Unit, more than 1,739 Tanzanians were killed in 8,405 road accidents in 2014.

During the same period, more than 9,889 Tanzanians were injured.