Harare — Seven people were killed while 62 others were injured when a Harare-bound Masere Brothers bus in which they were passengers failed to negotiate a steep rise, rolled back and plunged into the dried-up Dande River here on Saturday morning.

The accident comes barely two months after a Musanhi bus killed 17 people near Dotito, also in Mashonaland Central.

Police traffic co-ordinator for Mashonaland West and Central Superintendent Cephas Muzambi on Sunday said the injured were rushed to Chitsungo and Guruve District hospitals, while one was transferred to Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare for advanced medical treatment.

Six of the victims died on the spot while the seventh died on admission to Chitsungo Hospital.

Supt Muzambi said five of the seven victims had since been identified, but police were withholding their names until their next of kin were notified.

Six of the deceased were women while the seventh was a man -- all on their way to Harare from Chikafa.

Supt Muzambi said the accident occurred at around 4:30am on Saturday after the bus failed to negotiate a steep gradient soon after crossing Dande River.

The bus left Chikafa at around 2a.m.

Recounting the accident, driver Mr Gregory Shambare -- who escaped with minor injuries -- said: "I was using gear number two when I noticed the bus could not pull up the gradient. I then applied the hand and foot brakes, but both failed.

"The bus then rolled back towards the bridge at high speed.

"I noticed I would be unable to cross the bridge because of poor visibility. In addition, the bridge is narrow.

"I then decided to hit one of the pillars on the sides of the bridge, but the bus plunged into the river bed instead," he said.

Assistant conductor Mr Ashford Rombe said most of the passengers had no idea what happened as they were fast asleep.

"When I noticed the bus was rolling backwards, I jumped off with the intention of supporting the wheels with stones.

"But I failed because the bus was moving too fast," he said.

Mr Rombe said the bus had about 10 standing passengers.

"Six people died on the spot and most of them were on the back seat," he said. Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister Advocate Martin Dinha, who visited the accident scene on Sunday in the company of members of the Civil Protection Unit, said the province was saddened by the loss of lives.

"We are appealing to drivers and transporters to act responsibly. This is a second serious accident after the Musanhi bus accident that killed 17 in Dotito," he said.

Adv Dinha appealed to Government to decentralise the CPU so that victims could get immediate assistance.

"We need localised civil defence units with such basics as ambulances and fire trucks which can be located at district level or at every police station," he said.

He called upon transporters to review their timetables, especially for long-distance buses, so that drivers would have enough rest time.

Major traffic accidents have claimed the lives of about 120 people since August this year.

The most tragic of these was a crash involving a Mhunga bus along the Harare-Masvingo Road just before the Heroes and Defence Forces holidays which left 40 people dead.

Government subsequently suspended the company's operating licence, citing a string of serious accidents.

Last month, the driver of a commuter omnibus involved in an accident that claimed the lives of four schoolchildren earlier in the year was sentenced to three years behind bars for culpable homicide.