Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday declared a Saturday road accident in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North Province, a national disaster. The accident resulted in 21 health workers dead and 50 others injured, local media reported on Monday. 

According to Nyasha Masuka, Matabeleland North provincial medical health director, the driver was drunk when the accident happened, and thus failed to negotiate a “well-known dangerous curve” and caused the truck to overturn.

The victims were Ministry of Health malaria control program workers on a mission to spray every household in the province. 

“I confirm that 21 workers died, most of them on the spot. Twenty-six are admitted here (Tsholotsho), 20 are at Mpilo (Central) Hospital, while the other four are at United Bulawayo Hospitals, so all in all they were 71. The two at Mpilo are in a critical condition as they sustained head injuries together with other five who are a bit less critical, but all the survivors sustained varying degrees of injuries and fractures,” Masuka said.

The 28-year-old driver is among the injured.