The death toll in the traffic accident that occurred on Sunday afternoon on Estrada Nacional No. 1, the main Mozambican road, rose from five to seven, an official source told Lusa.
“The two new victims lost their lives in the hospital,” explained Lusa Rodrigues Chabana, spokesman for the Traffic Police of Maputo province.
The accident, which occurred in the Manhiça district, involved a passenger van and a private vehicle, which collided head-on after irregular overtaking by a vehicle carrying passengers.
At the scene, five people died and another 22 were injured, two of whom lost their lives during hospitalization at the Manhiça District Hospital.
“There are strong indications that show that the driver of the passenger transport vehicle, who carried out the irregular overtaking, I was drunk“, stressed Rodrigues Chabana.
The EN1 has been the scene of serious road accidents, mainly in the section that crosses the Manhiça district (in the south of the country), with several deaths and almost always involving public transport.
Mozambican police data indicates that, in the first six months of this year alone, 84 people died as a result of road accidents in Maputo province, compared to 67 in the same period last year.
In the same district where Sunday’s accident took place, 32 people died more than a year ago when two trucks and a bus were involved in an irregular overtaking.
In November 2021, another 17 people died in the same district, in an accident between public transport.
On January 22 this year, 28 people died on the EN1 in Zambézia province, central Mozambique, in an accident involving a freight wagon and a public transport vehicle.
Traffic accident rates in Mozambique are classified as dramatic by various organizations.
Mozambican authorities have identified speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol as the main causes of accidents.
On average, at least a thousand people die annually on the roads, according to data provided to Lusa by the Association of Victims of Road Insecurity of Mozambique (Amviro).
Source: Observadora
