At least 38 young women have died in a road accident in Swaziland on their way to an annual ceremony where the king might have chosen one of them as his wife, an advocacy group said yesterday. Trucks transporting scores of young women to the traditional Umhlanga Reed Dance collided on Friday near the town of Matsapha on Swaziland's major highway. The local hospital's emergency room was full of injured and dead women, the Times of Swaziland reported. According sources, a total of 38 young girls have been pronounced dead, with more than 20 others seriously injured, said Lucky Lukhele, spokesperson for the Swaziland Solidarity Network, an advocacy group based in neighbouring South Africa.
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