A long-distance bus crash killed three people today in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula and left 15 others in serious condition, authorities announced.

The accident happened 10 days after another one in which 13 people died and that led the Ministry of Transportation to announce that it will soon strengthen measures to prevent disasters.

In today's accident, reports from passengers assisted at Nampula Provincial Hospital indicate that the driver lost control of the bus, which eventually left the road and overturned near a bridge in the Monapo district.

Two people died on the spot, while another lost his life while being transported to a health facility, according to local sources cited by Televisão de Moçambique (TVM).

The bus was making one of the longest routes in the country, between Pemba, provincial capital of Cabo Delgado, and Maputo, about 2,500 kilometers.

The rates of road accidents in Mozambique are classified as dramatic by several organizations.

A total of 32 people died a year ago in the most serious accident ever on Mozambican roads, when two trucks and a bus were involved in an irregular overtaking in Manhiça, in the south of the country.

In November 2021, another 17 people died in the same district in an accident between public transportation.

Already this year, on January 22, 28 people died on the EN1 in Zambezia province, central Mozambique, in an accident involving a goods vehicle and a light collective transport vehicle.

On average, at least a thousand people die annually on Mozambican roads, according to data provided to Lusa by the Mozambican Association for Victims of Road Safety (Amviro). (Lusa)