Bus collision with truck kills at least 28 people in Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM (TANZANIA): A passenger bus was in collision with a timber truck and burst into flames in eastern Tanzania early Friday, killing at least 28 people, a fire and rescue official said.

The crash occurred at Mkambarani on the Morogoro-Dar es Salaam highway as the bus travelled from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya, said Joseph Mwasabeja, acting commander of the Morogoro regional fire and rescue force.

The truck was heading from Iringa toward Dar es Salaam and attempting to overtake other vehicles when it collided with the bus, Mwasabeja said at the scene.

The bus was destroyed by fire. The number of injured was not yet known, though some had been taken to a hospital, he said.

Scholastica Ndunga, a spokeswoman for Morogoro Regional Referral Hospital, said it would release figures later for the dead and injured brought there.

In June 2025, a collision between two buses in Tanzania's northern Kilimanjaro region killed at least 37 people. Both vehicles caught fire. President Samia Suluhu Hassan subsequently urged stricter adherence to road safety rules.

Africa has the world's highest road death rate, with about 26 deaths per 100,000 people compared with a global average of around 18, according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa. The continent has only about 3 per cent of the world's vehicles.