43 die in Zimbabwe bus crash

At least 43 people died Wednesday evening when a Zambia-bound bus they were travelling in overturned in the Hurungwe area along the Chirundu highway, more than 200 km from Zimbabwe's capital city Harare.

Police spokesperson Charity Charamba told national radio that several other passengers were injured after the bus driver failed to negotiate a curve and hit a tree, resulting in the bus overturning.

Charamba said the driver was probably speeding, given that he failed to negotiate the curve.

She called on authorities to make it mandatory that buses should not travel at night to curb accidents on the country's narrow highways.

President Robert Mugabe recently broke the ground for the dualization of the one of Southern Africa's main trunk roads, the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway in a development that will make travelling there safer.

Many accidents have occurred on the highway, especially on the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge legs, with at least 150 people dying in those involving buses between 2014 and 2016.

The highway was built during the time of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now independent states of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi) between 1953 and 1963 and is part of the North-South Corridor as described by regional economic blocs.

The accident occurred about two months after another 31 passengers died when a South Africa-bound bus side-swiped a haulage truck about 220 km from Harare on the Masvingo Road, causing both vehicles to catch fire. The dead had to be identified through DNA tests after their bodies were burnt beyond recognition.