Posted on 08/29/2015 5:23:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The accident happened on 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.
"A total of 38 young girls have been pronounced dead, with more than 20 others seriously injured," Swaziland Solidarity Network spokesman Lucky Lukhele said.
...
"The girls were in an open truck which hit a sedan car stopped on the road,"
The Reed Dance, due to be held on 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.
...
Police confirmed there had been "fatalities" but declined to specify the toll, with police spokesman Khulekani Mamba saying: "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."
Local media gave varying tolls, with government newspaper The Observer reporting hundreds of injuries and the Swazi News saying seven people had been killed, six of them girls.
News of the accident has not been broadcast on public television and journalists were blocked from photographing the crash scene, a local journalist said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
38 deaths? How fast was that bus traveling? Am I missing something?
Swaziland... Switzerland. I thought it was Switzerland and could not figure out how they all went to dance for polygamist King.
That ain't saying much. I live in a county that big.
Many of them still have certain rituals but it is still worth the effort.
It wasn’t a bus, it was an open truck. But just how many people did they have crammed in there?
thank you for enlightening us. this is one of the most valuable benefits we receive on Freerepublic !...education that the media certainly does not provide.
Thank you Jim for such a great educational experience eveyday!
Well, they’re lucky that won’t be raped by the King.
That was what I meant. Nor, pick up any of his diseases and die from a wasting death. Or endure the prison of his harem.
Only non-Islamic absolute monarchy in world.
King (actual title “Lion” in the honorific sense) has a harem. Sounds close enough to Islam to me. If there’s a Christian influence it must fundamentalist Mormonism. :/
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