28 people killed Tanzania lorry accident

DAR ES SALAAM, June 7 (Reuters) Twenty eight people were killed and 12 others seriously injured when a truck they were travelling in overturned in northwestern Tanzania, a police official said today.

The seven-tonne vehicle was laden with fish, which its more than 50 occupants were ferrying to Kigoma region, northwest of Dar es Salaam, from a town on the shores of Lake Victoria.

''Most of those in the lorry were fish traders who had gone to Lake Victoria to buy sardines and other fish,'' said Ignatius Mbinga, Kagera regional police commander.

Mbinga said the lorry was carrying passengers contrary to Tanzania's traffic laws, which prohibit lorries from ferrying passengers. He said police had yet to establish the exact number of the lorry's occupants.

''They had boarded a cargo lorry, which is not allowed by law,'' Mbinga said, adding the lorry's driver had been arrested.

The accident occurred near Lusahunga, a small town about 400 miles northwest of Dar es Salaam, at about 6 a.m. yesterday.

REUTERS SHB PM1806