14 people, including 6 journalists killed car crash in Tanzania

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AA) - Fourteen people, including six journalists were killed and several others injured in a car crash Tuesday in Tanzania’s southern highlands, authorities confirmed.

The crash occurred in the morning when a car carrying journalists who were on tour with the Mwanza regional commissioner collided with a passenger vehicle in the Nyamikoma area in the Busega district in the southern Simiyu region.

Simiyu District commissioner Gabriel Zacharia confirmed the accident and said four journalists and six others who were in one car died immediately.

“This is a tragic loss to our nation, it was a terrible accident so to speak,” Zacharia told Anadolu Agency.

He said several people who were in the passenger vehicle were injured and taken to a hospital.

Simiyu’s Regional Police Commander Blasius Chatanda said police are still investigating the cause of the accident and would issue a statement when the probe is complete.

“It is too early to tell you what went wrong, you better wait for the investigations to be completed. We will give you that information,” Chatanda told the Turkish news agency.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed sympathy to those who died and were injured.

“I am shocked by the deaths of 14 people including 6 journalists, which happened this morning after a car which was on a motorcade of the Mwanza Regional commissioner collided with a passenger vehicle. My sincere condolences to members of the press, friends and relatives. May the Almighty God rest their souls in peace and I wish a quick recovery to those who have been injured,” she wrote on Twitter.

Minister of Information Nape Nnauye said he received with shock the news about the accident.

“My sincere condolences to their families, may the almighty God rest their souls in peace,” he said.

The journalists killed included Husna Milanzi, a reporter with the ITV television station; Anthony Chuwa, a freelancer; Johari Shani who worked with the Uhuru newspaper and Abel Ngapemba, a communications officer with the Mwanza region.