Bus crashes into a Moving Train in Singida before overturning and killing 13 passengers, injuring 25 others

By Tanzania Times On Nov 29, 2023

At least 14 people, mostly passengers have been killed in the accident involving a Golden Dragon bus with registration number T-178 DVB, belonging to Ally’s Star transport company of Mwanza and a train.

The bus which was travelling from Dar-es-salaam City heading to the Lake Zone, reportedly crashed onto the moving train engine as it was attempting to cross a railway track in Manyoni District of Singida.

The two bus drivers, Zaharan and Masaba, are among the people who lost their lives during the early morning crash. Other deceased were seven men and six women.

The Road-Rail accident is suspected to have occurred at about 5.00 am in the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 29, 2023, therefore indicating that the ill-fated bus must have departed from Dar-Es-salaam in the previous night of November 28.

The orange coloured bus, of a ‘Golden Dragon,’ model, is among the series of passenger vehicles that Tanzanian transporters have been importing from China.

The bus overturned after the deadly impact, that morning causing the deaths of a number of its passengers who were travelling from Dar to Mwanza.

The locomotive, with number V951 9006, which the Ally’s bus crashed into, belongs to the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) however happened to be just an engine without wagons.

TRC spokesperson, Jamillah Mbarouk, said 25 other people were injured in the accident, among them 18 men and 7 women.

Tanzania recently allowed public passenger vehicles to resume their night movements.

The country had banned buses from traveling at night in efforts to minimize the rate of road accidents.

As it happens, commercial passenger vehicles in Tanzania were stopped from travelling during night hours in 1992.

The mandatory directive remained effective for more than 30 years until recently when authorities decided to have the ban lifted.