Twenty-three female members of a church have lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident in Zambia.
The church members died on Monday when their speeding vehicle ran off the road in the north of the country, police said.
They were riding in a truck heading for Nsumbu, 780 kilometres (485 miles) north of the capital Lusaka, for a church conference.
“Seventeen people died on the spot while six others died upon reaching Nsumbu clinic,” police spokesman Rae Hamoonga said in a statement, adding 27 others were injured.
Police blamed the driver for excessive speed saying he failed to negotiate a curve and lost control of the truck which eventually overturned.
Deadly traffic accidents are common in Zambia due to the poor state of the roads and bad driving.