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Road accident kills 16 in South Africa

24 December 2010 02:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Sixteen people have been killed and nine others injured after two vehicles collided head-on in eastern South Africa, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The accident happened in the town of Mtubatuba -- located 560 kilometers (348 miles) east of Pretoria -- on Thursday, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported.

The KwaZulu-Natal province road traffic inspector Zinhle Mngomezulu said that the driver and all the passengers from one vehicle were killed in the accident.

He added that medical workers ferried the injured to a nearby hospital to receive medical treatment.

An investigation is underway to discover what caused the deadly accident, according to provincial transport authorities.

South Africa’s privately-owned minibus taxi industry provides the bulk of public transport in the country, but is plagued by poor driving and safety standards.

A total of 860 people were killed on South African roads in the first 21 days of this month, according to statistics released by South Africa’s Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) on Wednesday.

RTMC spokesman Ashraf Ismail said the fatality figures, which were recorded by 2,000 police stations around the country, could be even higher as they excluded some victims who died in hospitals later.

"We had 717 fatal crashes, compared to 768 for last year. The figures are still down and we are doing everything in our power to create safer roads," Ismail noted.