38 young women killed en route to Swazi king’s palace festival

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.

I would like to assure the parents who have lost their loved ones that the nation will support them through and through.

King Mswati III

The Reed Dance, due to be held Monday, is a beauty pageant that attracts tens of thousands of young virgins who dance before the polygamist king, who can select one of them as a new wife. Mswati, Africa’s last absolute monarch, chose his 14th wife at the celebration in 2013. Mswati said the girls’ deaths were a “tragedy in the nation”.

We won’t be giving out any information because the maidens were on royal duty, so there are certain protocols to be followed before such information can be divulged to the public.

Police spokesman Khulekani Mamba

World swaziland