A HEAD-ON collision in Namibia involving vehicles belonging to the security services has killed 16 people.
The accident took place 270km (167 miles) south of the capital, Windhoek, outside the town of Mariental on Saturday.
“No words can truly capture the depth of this loss,” President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah wrote on social media, praising “the souls of our fallen officers”.
Namibia has one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world.
Two civilians and 14 officers were among those confirmed to have been killed in the crash.
Namibia’s Ministry of Home Affairs initially put the death toll at 14, but in an update on Sunday said that this had now risen as a police officer and prison officer had died of their injuries after being taken to hospital.
Home Affairs Minister Lucia Iipumbu offered her condolences and thanked those who attended the scene of the accident and the medical teams at Mariental State Hospital.
She asked that photos from the scene not be shared.
“The ministry further strongly appeals to members of the public to refrain from circulating distressing and sensitive images and videos taken from the accident scene, out of respect for the deceased, the injured and their families,” she is quoted by the Namibian newspaper as saying.
She explained that 19 people in total were travelling in the two vehicles.
The police van had been carrying six passengers – five officers and a civilian – and the Namibian Correctional Service had 13 people on board.
Namibia’s Motor Vehicle Accident Fund urged affected families to get in contact.
The government-sponsored vehicle insurance scheme, funded by a fuel levy, helps road injury victims get access to health care, rehabilitation and social support.
Its CEO, Rosalia Martins-Hausiku, said the fund would assist with burials and medical care, talk radio station Eagle FM reported.
Road traffic crashes are a serious public health issue in Namibia, even though its population is relatively low – estimated at three million.
A comparison of the statistics from 2021 shows that Namibia had 22 road traffic fatalities per 100,000 compared to 2.3 per 100,000 in the UK that year.