At least 42 passengers have been confirmed dead, Zimbabwe police said Friday, after a suspected gas tank exploded on a bus.
Police confirmed the incident with 20 other passengers badly burned during the Thursday night incident.
“At the moment we know that more than 42 people died,” police spokesperson Charity Charamba told AFP.
“Dozens have been confirmed dead and several others injured through burns,” he added.
Authorities say the vehicle was on the highway between Beitbridge and Bulawayo when it went up in flames.
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation published photographs showing the destroyed vehicle on a highway from the South African border crossing to the second city Bulawayo.
UPDATED: Bus catches fire, dozens feared dead https://t.co/UjFgTCYur0 pic.twitter.com/Nf2pAiUxwI
— ZBC News Online (@ZBCNewsonline) November 16, 2018
Last week, 47 people were killed when two buses collided on a road between the capital Harare and the eastern town of Rusape.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa said road safety had to be improved after that crash.
Traffic accidents are common in Zimbabwe, where roads are riddled with potholes due to years of underfunding and neglect, and driving standards can be poor.
In June last year, 43 people were killed in a bus crash in the north, along the highway leading to neighbouring Zambia.
