At least 18 people were killed on April 16 after a minibus caught fire along a major highway in southern Zimbabwe, Police have confirmed. Authorities say the cause of the blaze remains under investigation. Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi noted that details surrounding the incident are still being gathered.
Images circulating online showed the vehicle reduced to a charred shell on the Bulawayo–Beitbridge Road, a critical transport corridor connecting Zimbabwe to neighbouring South Africa.
Minibus taxis, locally known as “kombi”, remain a primary mode of daily transport for many Zimbabweans, heightening the human impact of such incidents.
The tragedy adds to a pattern of fatal road accidents in the country. Earlier in April, a woman and her five children died in a collision involving a haulage truck on another major route linking Zimbabwe and South Africa. In 2018, at least 42 people were killed when a bus was engulfed in flames following a suspected gas cylinder explosion.