Suspected gas cylinder blast kills 42 on Zimbabwe bus

At least 42 passengers were killed, Zimbabwe police said yesterday, after a suspected gas cylinder exploded on a bus, with pictures showing the burnt-out wreckage of the vehicle. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation published photographs showing the destroyed vehicle on a highway between the South African border and the second city Bulawayo.

“At the moment we know that more than 42 people died,” police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said after the accident late on Thursday, with state media reporting that a cooking gas cylinder belonging to a passenger was believed to have exploded igniting a fire. “Our police officers are at the scene,” Charamba added.

The state-owned Herald newspaper said on its Twitter feed that “it is suspected a gas tank belonging to one of the passengers caused the inferno in the bus. “Dozens have been confirmed dead and several others injured through burns.”