At least 26 people were burned to death in Malawi after a minivan burst into flames following a collision with a fuel tanker. All passengers in the minivan were “completely burned, and there were no survivors,” said Harry Namwaza, deputy spokesman for the Malawi Police Service, after the incident occurred Wednesday in the central Kasungu district.
“The driver of the minivan was speeding and crashed into the fuel tanker while attempting to overtake it,” Namwaza explained. The passenger vehicle was heading toward the capital, Lilongwe.
Road accidents in Malawi claim many lives each week. A report from the Malawi Police Service revealed that the country recorded 4,977 accidents last year, with 389 of them being fatal.
Just last weekend, around 10 people died when a speeding vehicle veered into a marketplace in the southern region of the country. Government officials, road engineers, and safety experts blame these frequent accidents on reckless driving and poor road conditions.