Four people, including a pregnant woman, have been killed and nearly twelve people were left injured when a vehicle rammed into mourners at Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima’s funeral procession.
The vehicle was part of a motorcade transporting the body of Saulos Chilima, who lost his life in a plane crash last week.
Thousands of people had lined up in the streets to catch a glimpse of the vice president’s coffin, whose remains were set to be buried on Monday, June 17.
As the mourners kept joining the procession, a vehicle plunged into a crowd in Ntcheu village in central Malawi, Africa.
Due to the collision with the vehicle, two female and two male pedestrians sustained severe head injuries and multiple fractures. All four of them died while receiving treatment for their injuries, reported AP citing police officials.
A vehicle in the convoy of Malawi’s late vice president’s funeral procession rammed into mourners at a village on Sunday night, killing four people and injuring 12, police said.
An eyewitness told AFP that the vehicle plunged into the group as it attempted to manoeuvre away from the crowd.
Felix Njawala, the spokesman for Chilima’s party, said there was some tension along the route as mourners demanded the procession stop so they could see the coffin.
“In Dedza, people blocked the road and demanded to see the coffin” he told AFP, “only when the convoy stopped were people pacified and the convoy was able to proceed” adding that in some instances people threw stones at the convoy.
Chilima died last week along with eight others during a military aircraft crash in Malawi’s Chikangawa Forest in dense fog. Shortly after the accident, the military began its search operation, after which the wreckage of the plane was found on Tuesday.
AFP
