26 people burned to death in fatal Malawi road accident

By Jamal Jamal

LILONGWE, Malawi (AA) — At least 26 people were burned to death in Malawi after a minivan burst into flames after crashing into a fuel tanker.

All passengers on the minivan "were burned completely and there have been no survivors," Harry Namwaza, deputy spokesman for the Malawi Police Service, told Anadolu after the incident that occurred Wednesday in the central Kasungu district.

"The driver of the passenger vehicle was overspeeding and he ended up hitting the fuel tanker in his attempt to overtake it," said Namwaza.

He said the passenger vehicle was on its way to the country's capital, Lilongwe.

Road accidents claim scores of lives on a weekly basis in the Southern African nation.

According to a report by the Malawi Police Service, the country recorded 4,977 accidents last year, including 389 of them that were fatal.

Last weekend, about 10 people were reported dead after a speeding vehicle plunged into a marketplace in the southern part of the country.

Government officials, road engineers, and road safety specialists attribute the accidents to the behavior of drivers and poor road conditions.