The death toll from a traffic accident in southern Ethiopia rose to at least 71 after a vehicle carrying a wedding party veered into a river, a local official said.
The truck fell into the water around 5:30 pm local time on Sunday, about 300 kilometers south of the capital Addis Ababa, in Sidama state.
The Traffic Prevention and Control Directorate of the Sidama Police Commission puts the death toll “so far” at 68 men and three women.
“The accident was especially horrible because the river had many large stones, so most of the passengers, including the driver, died due to the impact,” said Wossenyeleh Simon, an official with the regional communications department. AFP.
“Among the deceased are four people from the same family,” he stated. He said the driver had lost control of the “cargo truck”, which was carrying 76 people, including those on their way to the wedding and daily labourers, when he tried to take a sharp bend in front of a bridge.
“It was possible that the truck was transporting people beyond its capacity, as there were a small number of passenger vehicles circulating that day,” he added.
Blurred images shared by the health office showed a mass of people surrounding the vehicle, partially submerged in water, with many ropes trying to help pull it out of the water.
Other images shared by the office appeared to show bodies, some covered with a blue tarp, lying on the ground.
Wossenyeleh Simon said staff from a nearby hospital quickly arrived at the scene on Sunday, “helping to recover the bodies of the deceased and also conducting search and rescue operations for survivors.”
Of the five people who survived, two suffered serious injuries and were currently receiving care at Hawassa Referral Hospital. He added that three had already been discharged, although they suffered from “mental stress and psychological (shock).
Dangerous roads
Traffic accidents are common in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, where roads are often poorly maintained.
Earlier this year, a bus diverted into a river in southern Ethiopia in Wolaita, leaving at least 28 people dead and 19 others seriously injured. Similarly, at least 18 civilians were killed in 2018 when an army truck collided with a minibus in the north of the country.
Although the continent has the fewest roads and cars of any region, it has the highest proportion of vehicle deaths, often as a result of poor infrastructure, few rescuers and old cars.
Africa, home to only about 4 percent of the world’s cars, accounted for 19 percent of road deaths last year, according to a World Health Organization report earlier this year.
It also found that the continent was the only region where road deaths increased between 2010 and 2021: by 17 percent.
