Erongo: Eight people died in a head-on collision between a minibus taxi and a truck on the B2 road near the Swakop Uranium mine turn-off Wednesday night. The Namibian Police Force in the Erongo Region confirmed the incident to Nampa, saying the incident occurred around 21h00 between Arandis and Swakopmund.According to Namibia Press Agency, it is alleged that the Quantum minibus carrying around 10 occupants collided with a truck driving in the opposite direction. Preliminary investigations indicate that two passengers from the minibus sustained injuries and have been transported to the Katutura State Hospital in Windhoek, while the truck driver, a 48-year-old Namibian male, sustained injuries.The deceased persons have not yet been identified and their next of kin have yet to be informed. Investigations into the crash continue. Information on who the occupants were and where they were traveling from has not yet been determined.Reacting to the tragedy, Erongo Governor Natalia |Goagoses at a media conferenc e said road fatalities in the region have reached 31 since January this year. 'It is just too many lives for a small population like ours. We cannot afford to continue counting statistics while people are dying on our roads,' she said.|Goagoses attributed the high number of accidents to severe congestion on the region's roads, driven by heavy trucks transporting goods around the clock, combined with increased traffic from tourists, public transport vehicles and private motorists. She warned that the situation has reached crisis level and called for an urgent, coordinated response from all stakeholders.'This is an emergency; we need to balance economic activity with the lives of our people. We cannot allow unregulated traffic, especially at night, to continue costing lives,' she stressed. The governor directed that an urgent regional road safety stakeholders' conference be convened within two weeks in conjunction with the Ministry of Works and Transport.Among the proposed measures are stricter enforcemen t of road safety regulations, regulation of night-time truck movement, and the shifting of bulk cargo from road to rail to ease congestion. |Goagoses further raised concern over fatigue among drivers, particularly those operating taxis and long-haul trucks, noting that some travel multiple trips daily under strenuous conditions.Stakeholders also proposed immediate interventions such as increased road safety awareness campaigns, creation of passing lanes along congested routes, and stricter monitoring of overloaded seven-seater vehicles.