A head-on collision in Namibia involving automobiles belonging to the safety companies killed 14 individuals, together with 11 members of the jail service, a police officer and two civilians.
The accident passed off 270km (167 miles) south of the capital, Windhoek, exterior the city of Mariental on Saturday.
“No phrases can really seize the depth of this loss,” President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah wrote on social media, praising “the souls of our fallen officers”.
Namibia has one of many highest highway visitors fatality charges on the planet.
Dwelling Affairs Minister Lucia Iipumbu additionally handed on her condolences and thanked those that attended the scene of the accident and the medical groups at Mariental State Hospital.
She requested that pictures from the scene not be shared.
“The ministry additional strongly appeals to members of the general public to chorus from circulating distressing and delicate photos and movies taken from the accident scene, out of respect for the deceased, the injured and their households,” she is quoted by the Namibian newspaper as saying.
She defined that 19 individuals in whole had been travelling within the two automobiles.
The police van was carrying six passengers – 5 officers and a civilian – and the Namibian Correctional Service had 13 individuals on board.
President Nandi-Ndaitwah mentioned three different jail officers remained critically injured.
“We want them energy and a full restoration,” she said.
Namibia’s Motor Car Accident Fund urged households affected to get in touch.
The federal government-sponsored automobile insurance coverage scheme, funded by a gas levy, helps highway harm victims to get entry to well being care, rehabilitation and social help.
Its CEO, Rosalia Martins-Hausiku, mentioned the fund would help with burials and medical care, talk radio station Eagle FM reported.
Street visitors crashes are a severe public well being situation in Namibia, though its inhabitants is comparatively low – estimated at three million.
A comparability of the statistics from 2021 reveals that Namibia had 22 highway visitors fatalities per 100,000 in comparison with 2.3 per 100,000 within the UK that yr.
