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27 church members killed in Zimbabwe road crash
A head-on collision between a haulage truck and a minibus taxi carrying church members killed 27 people in Zimbabwe, police said Saturday.
Paul Nyathi, Police spokesperson, said the crash occurred Friday night on a major highway near Chivhu, 132 kilometers (82 miles) south of Harare, as the truck attempted to overtake another vehicle. The passengers, members of a popular indigenous African Christian denomination known for wearing white robes, were traveling to a conference.
State media, citing a provincial minister, reported that 23 people died at the scene, while others succumbed to injuries at a local hospital. Both vehicles carried an unspecified number of passengers, and the minibus taxi burst into flames, leaving only a shell.
Road accidents are common in Zimbabwe, with authorities attributing 94% of crashes to human error. Across Africa, road crashes kill about 300,000 people annually, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The continent has the world's highest road fatality rate for its 1.5 billion people, despite holding just 3% of the global vehicle fleet, reports UNB.