No deaths were reported but several people suffered injuries following a bus crash in Zambia’s Milima region

The Facebook post, which we’ve archived here, shows two images from the crash scene along with this caption: “18 people have died in the power tools accident today at Milemi few kilometers from Kasama today at 16hrs.”

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A screenshot taken on January 17, 2020 of the misleading Facebook post

Contrary to the claim, a basic internet search of the incident revealed only local news headlines of passengers, in fact, escaping death -- see here and here.

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A screenshot taken on January 17, 2020 of an article by the Zambian Observer

The news reports describe how more than 60 passengers survived after a bus travelling from Ndola to Mpulungu in Zambia crashed on January 13, 2020, at about 4:40 pm (1840 GMT) in Milima, about 6 km from Kasama District.

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A screenshot taken on January 17, 2020 of the bus route between Ndola and Mpulungu on Google Maps

Radio Mano, a community radio station with a verified Facebook account, also corroborated the event in a news report after visiting Kasama General Hospital, where the injured were taken. 

The station interviewed the bus conductor, who claimed the driver took evasive action to avoid two cyclists, lost control and veered off into a field.

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Images saved on January 17, 2010 of the accident scene from Radio Mano's Facebook page

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An image saved on January 17, 2010 of the accident scene from Radio Mano's Facebook page

Humphrey Chanda, medical superintendent and consulting physician at Kasama General Hospital, confirmed to AFP there were zero fatalities and a handful of injuries.

“We attended to 82 people, eight people were admitted, and so far we have discharged seven. Only one is remaining in the hospital and she is stable; she should be discharged any day from now," Chanda said in a telephone call on January 16, 2020.

AFP looked for a statement online from the bus company, Power Tools Logistics’, but found nothing on its Twitter or Facebook accounts.

A man who answered the company's telephone number listed on Google refused to disclose any information, including his name, but did say there were no fatalities in the crash.