38 virgins killed in bus crash on their way to King of Swaziland's wife choosing ceremony

A road accident in Swaziland has killed 38 girls
and seriously injured 20 others who were on their
way to a traditional ceremony where King Mswati
III can choose a new wife, pro-democracy
activists reported.
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 Swaziland Solidarity Network campaigns for
democracy in the landlocked kingdom within
South Africa.
"The girls were in an open truck which hit a
sedan car stopped on the road," Mr Lukhele said.

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.
Mswati, Africa's last absolute monarch, chose his
14th wife at the celebration in 2013.
King Mswati said the girls' deaths were a
"tragedy in the nation".
"I would like to assure the parents who
have lost their loved ones that the nation
will support them through and through,"
the monarch, speaking on the sidelines of
a trade fair in Manzini, said.
"Also those in hospitals, should the need
arise for further treatment they will be
taken to other hospitals to ensure no
further loss of life."
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.
Mswati III has ruled Swaziland as an absolute
monarch since his father's death in 1982.