Twenty-one people were killed and nine others seriously injured on Saturday night in southern Tanzania, police reported.

The crash occurred in the village of Mkupuka in the coastal region, a mini-bus rammed into a lorry, Tanzania police said on Sunday.

The accident was reported almost 24 hours after 12 people, all of them women, died after a pickup in which they were travelling was struck by a lorry from behind on Friday night at Hedaru along the Dar es Salaam-Arusha highway.

The regional police commander, Ulrich Matei, said the accident occurred on Saturday at 8 p.m. local time along the Dar es Salaam- Lindi highway.

He said the mini-bus travelling from Ikwiriri town to Mkupuka village near the banks of the giant Rufiji River collided head on with an oncoming lorry which was trying to overtake another lorry.

He said 20 people died on the spot, one died on his way to hospital and 10 were injured with nine of them sustaining serious injuries, including fractured heads and broken legs and arms.

Matei said the injured persons were admitted to a nearby hospital waiting to be transferred to Muhimbili National Hospital, the country's leading referral medical facility, for specialized treatment.

Tanzania roads are claiming thousands of lives every year, and most of the accidents are caused by what police term as reckless driving and bad road conditions.