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Monday, 11 April, 2005, 08:38 GMT 09:38 UK

Zambia road crash kills 44 pupils

Forty-four schoolchildren have now died in northern Zambia after the truck they were travelling in crashed and overturned at the weekend.

The truck was carrying more than 100 students when it overturned at Kawambwa, 800km (480 miles) north of the capital, Lusaka, late on Friday.

The students were returning home at the end of the high school term.

Officials are consulting relatives over a plan to bury them all at one site near the crash scene on Wednesday.

The BBC's Musonda Chibamba says that hospitals in rural parts of Zambia often have limited facilities to cope with incidents of this magnitude.

The Zambian Red Cross says the two nearest hospitals have run out of oxygen and medicines to treat the remaining injured boys, many of whom remain in a critical condition.

Thrown out

Police spokeswoman Brenda Muntemba said some of the injured, including the driver, were still unconscious.

Many of those killed were thrown from the truck as it failed to negotiate a curve on a hilly road.

The students were from the Kawambwa High School.

Trucks are often used for transportation by people in rural Zambia.



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Related to this story:
Country profile: Zambia (01 Mar 05 |  Country profiles )
Zambia bus crashes kill over 100 (22 Aug 01 |  Africa )
Many killed in Zambia crash (08 Aug 99 |  Africa )


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