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Eleven people have died on the spot while 29 others sustained injuries in an accident which happened at Munali hills on the Kafue-Mazabuka road last night around 21:40hours involving a Hino Ranger truck registration number AKB 2872.
Southern province Police Commissioner Bonnie Kapeso has told Q-News that among the dead are six males, two females and three babies aged between one and three years old, who have all not been identified.
Mr Kapeso says the injured are admitted to Kafue district hospital while one passenger was evacuated to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
He says the accident happened when the truck which was being driven by Constantino Sibusenga of Namwala who is on the run, carrying 40 passenger driving from north to south plunged into a drainage after losing control.
Mr Kapeso says it’s believed that after passing through Kafue bridge roadblock, drivers exchanged and that the accident could have been caused due to inexperience by the driver.
The Southern province Police chief has since appealed to residents of Namwala whose relatives went to Lusaka on business trips to visit Kafue district hospital were the injured are being treated and where the bodies of the deceased have been deposited in the mortuary.
In a separate statement, the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) says according to eye witness accounts the Hino Ranger truck which was travelling from Lusaka to Chikanta village in Choma lost control, overturned and fell into a drainage whilst descending at Munali hills.
RTSA Senior Public Relations Manager Fredrick Mubanga says the truck which was carrying 53 passengers was also laden with assorted goods and items among them a hammer mill.
Mr Mubanga says 39 passengers were injured with one female in a critical condition being rushed to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
He says five people escaped with minor injuries that didn’t require immediate medical attention.