At least six people were killed and four others injured in a truck crash this morning in Niassa province in northern Mozambique, a police source said.
The accident occurred at around 2:45 a.m. (1:45 a.m. Lisbon time) in the Chimbunila area involving a truck carrying goods, the head of the public relations department of the provincial police department of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Niassa told the media Celestino Ziade.
“The truck’s front tire burst, the vehicle skidded and overturned. As a result of the accident, five people died on the spot, three were seriously injured and two were lightly injured. We later learned that one of the seriously injured died in the regional hospital,” the representative said.
The slightly wounded were given assistance and have already been discharged from the hospital, added Celestino Ziade.
Mozambique police say mechanical failure is the main cause of the incident.
Some organisations estimate the level of road accidents in Mozambique as high.
Mozambican authorities have named speeding and drunk driving as the main causes of accidents in the country.
Mozambique has recorded more than 4,800 road traffic deaths in the past five years, according to figures released on May 22 by the Mozambican government, which is calling for community involvement in the fight against the scourge.
“The road safety situation in Mozambique is very worrying, as in the last five years, for example, 4,812 people have died on our roads in 5,459 road accidents,” said Ambrosio Sitoe, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.