A collision between a bus and a truck crash kills 10 people in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- A collision between a bus and a haulage truck killed 10 people in central Zimbabwe on Wednesday, police said, bringing the country's death toll from major road crashes to 41 in May.

Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said the victims in Wednesday's crash died after a bus carrying 36 passengers attempted to overtake and collided with a truck near the city of Kwekwe. More details would be released later, he said.

Road accidents involving buses, minibus taxis and unregulated sedan taxis are common in the southern African country of around 15 million people and are often blamed on speeding and poor road conditions.

At least 24 people died in major crashes over the past week, including eight Roman Catholic parishioners whose vehicle plunged into a river. Earlier in May, another 17 people were killed when a bus crashed in northern Zimbabwe, most of them Malawian nationals returning home from South Africa.

Across Africa, road crashes kill about 300,000 people annually, roughly a quarter of the global toll, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which says the continent has the world’s highest road fatality rate.

Zimbabwe is among the countries with the worst record, with 94% of road accidents attributed to human error, according to authorities.

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