By PASSY HAACHIZO and SAM PHIRI –

A FATAL road traffic accident has claimed 25 lives and left more than 11 people seriously injured after a Scania Marcopolo bus registration number AJB 6340 and a Mercedes Benz minibus registration number ACZ 4829 collided head on the Great North Road.
The accident, which occurred between Lushimba and Manyumbi between 09:00 and 10:00 hours yesterday, saw 23 passengers die on the accident scene while two others died at Kabwe General Hospital.
Police spokesperson Charity Chanda and Central Province Police chief Lombe Kamukoshi confirmed the development in separate interviews.
According to police, the driver of the Marcopolo bus belonging to Wada Chovu Bus Services destined for Lusaka, failed to maintain his lane and in the process collided with the minibus.
“We would like to confirm that more than 22 passengers who were on the minibus, including the driver, died on the spot while the other two died upon arrival at the hospital. The bodies are lying in Kabwe General Hospital awaiting identification and  postmortem,” Ms Chanda said.
By press time, the police spokesperson had not given the full information on those who were injured but that all the passengers from the Marcopolo bus survived and were treated and discharged from Kabwe General Hospital.
The accident comes barely a few days after another disaster involving a Scania Marcopolo bus belonging to Mazhandu  Family Bus which overturned on the same road killing 5 people on the spot.