About 20 others were injured when the truck collided with another vehicle on Friday, said the group, the Swaziland Solidarity Network. The women and girls were said to have been in the back of the truck, the group said.

The police at first refused to give any information on the accident but later disputed the death toll provided by the advocacy group. Only 13 people were killed in the crash, said a police spokesman, Khulani Mamba.

The police discouraged reporting on the accident, the group said. Photographers were prevented from taking pictures, said a journalist who insisted on anonymity for security reasons.

“You don’t hide a death,” said Lucky Lukhele, spokesman for the Swaziland Solidarity Network. Members of the Swaziland Defense Force alerted the group to the accident, Mr. Lukhele said.

The women and girls were traveling on a highway between the Swazi cities of Mbabane and Manzini when the truck carrying them smashed into another vehicle and was then hit in the rear by a second truck, The Times of Swaziland newspaper reported.

“We were about 50 on board the first truck that smashed into the Toyota van,” said Siphelele Sigudla, 18, a survivor quoted by the newspaper.

The girls and young women were on their way to the Swazi king’s residence for the annual reed dance. About 40,000 participate in the ceremony at the royal residence, a government website said. The king often selects one of the women to become one of his wives. Swaziland, bordering South Africa and Mozambique, is polygamous, and the king has more than a dozen wives.

(nytimes.com)