TWELVE people died and 36 suffered injuries after a bus veered off the road and overturned at Lwanjilo village, Mbeya District.

ACP Wilbert Siwa, the acting regional police commander, said here yesterday that the accident occurred in the morning as the AN Classic bus, T. 282 CXT, was travelling from Mbeya to Tabora.

Speeding and recklessness of the bus’s driver was apparently the cause of the accident, he said, noting that the driver failed to control the bus at a sharp corner, hit a ditch and the bus overturned.

Some passengers died instantly while others passed away while receiving treatment at Chalangwa Health Centre and Chunya District Hospital, he said, expressing disappointment that the driver also died.

Some bodies were taken to the health centre and others to the district hospital, he said Siwa, while witnesses who participated in the rescue efforts said that the bus was travelling at high speed.

This led to the driver losing control in a section of the road with sharp curves, they said, one being Isaka Mbuba, a local leader from Nsalaga area where the accident occurred.

He said he witnessed the bus overturn while he was informing residents about a community meeting, recalling seeing the bus moving at high speed and hearing a loud noise before turning around.

He found the bus overturned and passengers were shouting for help, rushed to the scene and found many people injured, some trapped under the bus.

He immediately called the village chairman on the matter, and within a short time all vehicles coming from Mbeya and Chunya stopped. People disembarked to help with the rescue efforts until the police and fire services arrived, the resident elaborated.

One of the survivors, Hamadi Mazinge, admitted to the health centre, said he was travelling from Mbeya to his home in Lupatingatinga ward, Chunya District.

From the start of the journey the driver was speeding, and although passengers were shouting that he slows down, he maintained the reckless driving, at one point shaking off part of the luggage but it was reloaded.

The driver told the loading crew and passengers to hurry up so that the bus leaves quickly as he wanted to catch up with other buses that had overtaken AN Classic.

“We didn’t understand what happened until we found ourselves on the ground," he mildly recalled.

Regional Commissioner Juma Homera who visited the accident site said the bus was carrying between 50 and 60 passengers while the speed governor, the vehicle tracking device, had been inactive for over a month.

He appealed to the Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) to monitor buses more closely and take action against those found tampering with speed governors.

He similarly demanded that the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TanRoads) place warning signs at steep descents and sharp bends, as the accident was the second within a week.

It follows another accident early in the week in Mbarali District killing 10 people and injuring 18 others, residents noted.