38 girls die in crash on way to Swaziland beauty pageant.

(AFP Photo/Gianluigi Guercia)

Mbabane (Swaziland) (AFP) - A road accident in Swaziland killed 38 girls and seriously injured 20 others who had been on their way to a traditional ceremony where King Mswati III can choose a new wife, pro-democracy activists reported.

The accident happened Friday night when their open truck smashed into a car on the road between the tiny kingdom's two main cities, Mbabane and Manzini, en route to the traditional Reed Dance, activists said.

"A total of 38 young girls have been pronounced dead, with more than 20 others seriously injured," said Lucky Lukhele, a spokesman for the Swaziland Solidarity Network which campaigns for democracy in the landlocked kingdom within South Africa.


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