Harare, Nov 8: Forty-seven people were killed in Zimbabwe when two buses collided on a road between the capital Harare and the eastern town of Rusape, police said.
"We confirm 47 people have died in a road traffic accident at the 166-kilometre peg along the Harare-Mutare highway," police spokesman Paul Nyathi said on Wednesday.
On Twitter, the state-run Herald newspaper said pictures from the scene were too graphic to post. It said the morgue at the local public hospital in Rusape had run out of space and sought help from a private funeral parlour to take in some of the corpses.
Traffic accidents are common in Zimbabwe, where roads are riddled with potholes due to years of underfunding and neglect, but the highway where the accident occurred had been recently resurfaced.
In June last year, 43 people were killed in a bus crash in the north of the country, along the highway leading to neighbouring Zambia.
Deputy Transport Minister Fortune Chasi said the government will take steps to curb the road carnage.
"Totally needless loss of lives. This event should be the last before stern measures are taken," he tweeted, promising to rein in public service vehicles and their owners.
#RusapeAccidentUpdate
— The Herald Zimbabwe (@HeraldZimbabwe) November 7, 2018
Police have confirmed the death of 47 people, 45 of which are adults and 2 children. The pictures are too graphic and have been censored
More details to follow@caesarzvayi @Michellehakata @HChikwanha @TafadzwaMugwadi @manoc9 @ChronicleZim
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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
