Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s cabinet meeting has decreed a two-day national mourning period from Wednesday for the deaths of more than 30 people in a road accident in Manhiça, announcing the creation of a commission of enquiry for investigation.
“During the national period, the national flag and presidential flag will be at half-mast,” government spokesman Filimão Suaze told the media moments after a cabinet meeting in Maputo.
The measure follows a road accident on Saturday night involving two trucks and a bus belonging to the Nhancale transport company, which tried to overtake, hit one of the trucks and overturned, killing at least 32 people and injuring 28 others, 12 of them seriously.
In addition to decreeing national mourning, Mozambique’s cabinet meeting decided to set up an independent commission of enquiry to ascertain the causes of the accident and propose solutions to stop tragedies of this magnitude.
“The government said steps would be taken to ascertain the responsibilities of those involved in this accident and to assume responsibility for the families and victims,” said the Mozambican government spokesman.
Mozambique’s Transport Ministry described the accident as one of the most serious ever.
“This is the worst accident and with the highest number of fatalities that we have ever registered,” the national director of Transport and Safety, Claudio Zunguza, told Lusa on Sunday at the scene of the accident.
Several non-governmental organisations describe road accidents in Mozambique as dramatic. The country is in sixth place on the list of countries with the highest accident rate in Southern Africa.
On average, at least 1,000 people die each year in road accidents on Mozambican roads, according to data provided to Lusa in May by the Mozambican Association for Road Accident Victims (Amviro).
In 2020, the country recorded the lowest number of fatalities on the roads in the last 10 years (855 deaths), a figure associated with restrictions imposed by Covid-19.
