March 26 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and 10 others seriously injured on Saturday after their truck hit a roadside billboard at Igunga village in the country's central region of Tabora.

Khamis Selemani, Tabora regional police commander, said initial investigations revealed that the truck was on high speed and hit the billboard at 9:00 a.m. local time after its rear tyre burst.

He said the lorry was overloaded when the grisly accident occurred, adding that the driver escaped after the accident and police were hunting for him.

The medical officer in-charge at Igunga district hospital, Abdallah Ombeni, said the hospital received six dead bodies and 11 casualties one of whom died while receiving treatment.

Juma Hassan, one of the survivors, attributed the cause of the accident to over speeding which made the driver fail to control the truck when the tyre burst.

In February, 11 people were killed on the spot and 34 others were seriously injured after their bus collided head on with a lorry in the east African nation's coastal region of Tanga.

Mihayo Msikhela, the Tanga regional police commander, said most of the bodies were beyond recognition, adding that this made it difficult to identify them.

He said the bus was travelling from Tanga city on the shores of the Indian Ocean to the country's commercial capital Dar es Salaam while the lorry was travelling on the opposite direction. 

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by Xinhua News

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