Eight people died and four others suffered serious and minor injuries following a road accident on Saturday night (11), along National Road Number 1 (EN1), in Tavira village, Manhiça district, in the southern province of Maputo, Mozambique.

The car crash occurred at around 11pm involving two vehicles, including a semi-collective passenger transport minibus.

The director of the District Service for Health, Women and Social Action in Manhiça explains that the two injured were transported to Maputo Central Hospital due to the seriousness of their injuries.

"We had an accident at around 23h00. The accident took place in the Tavira, Maluana area and involved a semi-collective transport that was coming from the town of Maxixe (Inhambane province) and was heading for the city of Maputo," said the source, quoted by Rádio Moçambique, the national broadcaster.

He explained that one of the vehicles was carrying a rugby team that was going to compete in Maputo city and, unfortunately, ended up crashing into a trailer in the area. The crash resulted in eight deaths, four injured, two of whom were transferred to Maputo Central Hospital (HCM), two under observation and eight discharged.

The spokesman for the Traffic Police in Maputo province, José Novela, points to speeding by one of the vehicles as the main cause of the accident.

"The cause of this accident was excessive speed on the part of the car behind, which didn't leave enough distance between vehicles. That's why the attempt to overtake resulted in this accident," he said. (Text: AIM. Image: DR/Illustration)