Bus-Truck Collision in Tanzania’s Morogoro Region Kills at Least 28

At least 28 people died when a passenger bus collided head-on with a timber-carrying truck at Mkambarani on the Morogoro–Dar es Salaam highway in the early hours of Friday, 9 October 2026. The bus, travelling from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya, caught fire and burned completely. Acting Morogoro Regional Fire and Rescue Force Commander Joseph Mwasabeja said preliminary findings point to the truck driver attempting to overtake without adequate caution in a prohibited zone.

Rescue teams recovered bodies from the burned wreckage and transported injured survivors to Morogoro Regional Referral Hospital. Hospital staff reported that some bodies were so severely burned that facial identification was impossible; genetic testing is expected for the remaining unidentified victims. A second crash in the same region the same night killed additional people, including three police officers, bringing the combined local toll reported by some officials to 32.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan sent condolences to the families and to Morogoro Regional Commissioner Queen Sendiga and Inspector General of Police Camillus Wambura. She urged continued enforcement of road-safety rules. The bus registration was given as T 672 ELT and the truck as T 902 ENG or a close variant. One survivor described the truck crossing into the bus’s lane. Police Commander ACP Andrew Kantimbo confirmed the overtaking manoeuvre as the immediate cause under investigation.

Tanzania’s highways, particularly the long routes linking Dar es Salaam to the southern highlands, have seen repeated high-fatality collisions. A bus-on-bus crash in Kilimanjaro in June 2025 killed at least 37. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has long noted that the continent records the world’s highest road-death rate relative to vehicle numbers. In this case the combination of night-time travel, an overtaking attempt and the subsequent fire produced the high death count.

Firefighters faced a fully involved vehicle. Local residents assisted before formal rescue units fully deployed. The injured continue treatment. The presidential condolence message and the police account of the overtaking attempt constitute the principal official record so far. Identification of all victims and any charges against the surviving driver, if any, remain pending.