38 girls to dance for king of Swazilan die in auto crash

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Dozens of girls on their way to dance in honour of the king of Swaziland are dead after a road accident, local media and monitoring groups reported Saturday.
The Swaziland Solidarity Network, a human rights group, put the death toll at 38, repoets dpa.
The girls and young women had been riding to the annual Umhlanga Reed dance on the bed of a lorry when it was involved in a crash Friday on a highway between the cities of Mbabane and Manzini. The group reported another 20 girls were seriously injured.
The annual dance sees young women and girls perform for the king in a ceremony that sometimes ends with the polygamous monarch taking a new wife. Thousands of performers are expected at the event on Monday. King Mswati III, 47, Africa's last absolute monarch, has between 13 and 15 wives, according to different reports.
Further details on the accident were difficult to obtain because of censorship in the country's media of news the royal house finds objectionable. Independent media like the Times of Swaziland only reported seven deaths while state media reported a highway covered in blood but did not give concrete casualty figures.
During the Umhlanga dance, women and girls ranging in age from 8 to 22 will dance bare-chested in traditional costumes to impress the king.
The women and girls in the accident had apparently gone into the countryside to cut reeds, which is traditional before the event. The reeds are used to protect the palace from winds.

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