Twenty-seven people died after a south-bound truck belonging to Dresselhaus Transport and a medium-sized passenger bus heading for Rundu collided some 30 kilometres north of Grootfontein on Tuesday evening.

'A DEEP CUT' At Oshakati, Lutheran Bishop Johannes Sindano, who is originally from the Kavango Region, told The Namibian that some of the victims had been identified as Kavango residents.

"This is a terrible accident, which we haven't seen since Independence and we are only praying to God to encourage and strengthen the family members, relatives and friends of those who were killed in this horrific and terrible accident," he said.

A Police spokesman, Warrant Officer James Matengu, tried to clear up confusion over the number of people who were killed and injured.

He confirmed yesterday that 25 people died at the scene of the accident and another two after they had been taken to a hospital at Grootfontein.

All of them had been passengers in the bus.

Another passenger, identified as a 20-year-old student at the Polytechnic of Namibia, Joseph Shitarara, miraculously survived the accident with only minor injuries.

He was discharged from hospital on Wednesday already.

One more bus passenger remained in hospital yesterday, Matengu added.

The truck driver and a passenger in the truck were also taken to hospital.

They remained in a stable condition yesterday, according to Matengu.

He said the Police could not yet release details on the possible cause of the crash, as this was still under investigation.

Other sources, however, indicated that the truck driver might have swerved into the oncoming lane in order to avoid a kudu on his side of the road, that the bus driver in turn tried to swerve to avoid a head-on-crash, and that the two vehicles then collided on their left sides, with the truck virtually driving over that side of the bus.

The bus was sliced open and torn apart by the violence of the impact.

Eyewitnesses described seeing mutilated bodies - some decapitated - and severed body parts at the accident scene.

Matengu said the Police could not release the victims' names until their bodies had been positively identified and their relatives had been informed of their deaths.

This process was still going on yesterday.

The Commissioner of Police in the North, Elisa Hauliondjaba, said although some of the 27 crash victims were living in the Kavango or Caprivi at the time of the accident, they were originally from the four north-central regions.

He said some had been carrying their identity documents, which made it easier for the Police to trace their relatives.

Meanwhile, a well-known local businessman and former Mayor of Ondangwa, Otto Mwaningi Kapia, has donated seven coffins for the burial of the dead.

The coffins were handed over to the Director of Health and Social Services in the North, Dr Naftali Hamata, yesterday.

Bishop Sindano, Dr Hamata and Commissioner Hauliondja thanked Kapia.

Bishop Sindano told The Namibian that he had asked the Council of Churches in Namibia for permission to hold a memorial service for all the victims at the Oshakati State Hospital.

"Because the bodies of these people have been brought to Oshakati and these people were not members of the same church, it would be fitting to hold one memorial service for all of them in Oshakati, where relatives and friends can come together to give last respect to their beloved ones," Bishop Sindano said.

Officials of the Namibian Red Cross Society working at Eenhana in the Ohangwena Region have assembled at the Oshakati Police Station, where 25 of the bodies from the Grootfontein crash are being kept, to assist where possible.

"This is really a national disaster and we have to assist where we can," said Diana Etuhole Iiyambo, the Ohangwena Red Cross Regional Manager.

A doctor at the Oshakati State Hospital told The Namibian that they had started performing post-mortems on the bodies yesterday afternoon and hoped to finish today.