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Ray Bande in MUTARE

The burial of the 38 people who perished when a St Charles Luwanga bus crashed along the Chimanimani-Chipinge road on Thursday night has started.

The death toll from the disaster has since risen to 38 after one more passenger died in hospital.

The Government has declared the accident a state of disaster.

Burial of the dead, who are all Zion Christian Church (ZCC) members from Tilbury Estate in Chimanimani, started on Sunday after relatives begun collecting bodies from the mortuary on Saturday.

More were expected to be buried yesterday. ZCC spokesperson Elder Timothy Mapanzure said the burials had started: “We have started burying the victims of the accident. Relatives started collecting bodies on Saturday and we hope to continue with the burials tomorrow (yesterday) when Bishop (Nehemia) Mutendi is expected to join us,” he said.

A church service attended by Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Miriam Chombo and the wife of ZCC leader, Bishop Mutendi, was held in Mutare on Saturday.

Thirty-six died on the spot, one on the way to hospital and another one later in hospital.

After the accident, 26 critically injured survivors were transferred to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare.

One passenger has been discharged from hospital, leaving 23 in hospital.

Two of them are still in intensive care.

Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Dorcas Mutede, said the referral hospital was in dire need of skin transition kits and metal implants to help the injured.

“Since most of the victims suffered injuries that affected their bones, we desperately need to secure skin transition kits and metal implants so that we can be able to help them on their path to recovery,” she said.

Dr Mutede said of the 23 in admission, four are in the female ward, nine in male ward, six in the children’s ward and two in the intensive care unit.

In an interview on the sidelines of her visit to survivors of the accident at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital on Sunday, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Manicaland, Nokuthula Matsikenyere, urged motorists to take extra care while driving during holidays.

“It is sad that we continue losing lives that could have helped in the development of this country. We are losing breadwinners and young children owing to such accidents. We really need to urge our drivers to exercise extreme caution on the roads especially during these public holiday,” said Minister Matsikenyere, who also lost relatives during the disaster.

Minister Matsikenyere said she hopes no other victims from the accident will succumb to their injuries.

A hired St Charles Lwanga bus, with 108 passengers on board, was involved in an accident 5km to Jopa Turn-off along Chimanimani-Chipinge road on Thursday night.