HARARE – Police have named 11 of the 13 people killed when an out-of-control truck carrying maize ploughed into a group of worshippers in Wedza on Monday.
Two names of males aged 23 and 29 have been withheld as police are yet to locate their relatives.
Among the dead are grandmothers aged 80 and 70.
In a statement on Tuesday, police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi named the deceased as Paul Mupombwa, 50, Tabeth Mupombwa, 75, Edina Chinoda, 70, Elite Shambamuto, 5, Egenia Mutema, 80, Sekai Chikukwa, 70, Elisha Mabaira, 45, Josephine Kwaramba, 60, Mufaro Makuwe, 7, Alliet Majokota, 60.
They are all of Buhera while Patricia Garwe, the 11th victim, is from Mukamba Village in Wedza.
The accident victims were waiting for transport roadside at around 11AM after leaving their Apostolic sect shrine known as Mugodhi in Hwedza, along the Hwedza-Mutiweshiri Road, when the lorry driver trying to avoid a head-on collision with a bus on the narrow road rammed into a van before ploughing into the group.
Hundreds of people are attending Passover services at the shrine. Owing to a lack of parking space, drivers park on both sides of the road leaving a narrow lane with no escape either side.
Witnesses said the lorry driver was speeding.
