BY STAFF REPORTER
At least 32 members of Zion Christian Church (ZCC) members died on Thursday night when a bus they were travelling in plunged into a gorge in Chipinge.
Police said the bus veered off the road near Jopa market in Chipinge, killing 29 people on the spot.
Three others died on their way to Chipinge District Hospital.
The injured are admitted at the hospital and their condition could not be immediately ascertained.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the bus, which belongs to Charles Lwanga Secondary School, was overloaded.
The ZCC members were on their way to attend an Easter gathering.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Road Safety Performance Review Report released in December 2021, Zimbabwe has the worst accident mortality rate in the Southern African Development Community.
At least five people die in road accidents every 24 hours in the country with the Plumtree- Mutare highway being one of the major hotspots.
The report said Zimbabwe records an estimated 665 deaths and over 10 000 injuries per year due to road traffic accidents.
It said a road accident occurs every 15 minutes on the country’s roads and this represents a 35 percent increase in the mortality rate in the past 10 years.
A poor road network, human error and unroadworthy vehicles have been blamed for the high number of accidents.