The death toll from a road accident in southern Ethiopia has risen to at least 71 after a vehicle carrying a wedding party veered into a river, a local official said.

The truck careered into the water at around 5:30 pm local time on Sunday some 300 kilometres south of capital Addis Ababa in Sidama state.

The Sidama Police Commission Traffic Prevention and Control Directorate put the death toll “so far” at 68 men and three women.

“The accident was especially horrific as the river had a lot of big stones so most passengers, including the driver, were killed due to the impact,” Wossenyeleh Simon, an official with the regional communications department, told AFP.

“Among the deceased are four people from the same family,” he said. He said that the driver had lost control of the “freight truck” — which was carrying 76 people, including those heading to the wedding and day labourers — when trying to turn a tight bend ahead of a bridge.

“It was possible the truck was carrying people beyond its capacity as there were a scarce number of passenger vehicles operating during that day,” he added.

Blurred images shared by the health bureau showed a mass of people surrounding the vehicle, partially submerged in water, with many ropes attempting to help pull it from the waters.

Other images shared by the bureau appeared to show bodies, some covered in blue tarpaulin, lying on the ground.

Wossenyeleh Simon said that staff from a nearby hospital were quickly on the scene on Sunday, “helping retrieve the bodies of the deceased and also conducting search and rescue operations for survivors”.

Of the five individuals who survived, two sustained serious injuries and were currently receiving care at Hawassa Referral Hospital. He added that three had already been discharged, although they were suffering from “mental stress and psychological (shock)”.

Perilous roads

Road accidents are common in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, where roads are often poorly maintained.

Earlier this year a bus swerved into a river in southern Ethiopia in Wolaita leaving at least 28 people dead, and 19 others seriously injured. Similarly, at least 18 civilians were killed in 2018 when an army truck crashed into a minibus in the country’s north.

Although the continent has the fewest roads and cars of any region it has the largest ratio of vehicle deaths, often a result of poor infrastructure, scant rescuers and old cars.

Home to only around 4 per cent of the world’s automobiles, Africa accounted for 19pc of road deaths last year, according to a World Health Organisation report earlier this year.

It also found that the continent was the only region where road deaths increased between 2010 and 2021 — up 17pc.