President Jacob Zuma has sent a message of condolences to King Mswati III and the Swaziland government following a horrific road accident in the tiny neighbouring kingdom on Friday that claimed the lives of many young women and left scores others seriously injured.

“The South African Government sends its deepest sympathy and condolences to the Government and the people of the Kingdom of Swaziland following the tragic loss of young lives and shares in the mourning of the families‚ as well as the relatives of the deceased. We wish the injured speedy recoveries‚” said President Zuma.

There has been no official word from the Swaziland government on the accident but the rights group Swaziland Solidarity Network‚ quoting what it says are inside sources‚ said that as many as 65 young girls were killed in the tragedy which occurred on the Mbabane-Manzini Highway.

The girls were on their way to the Swazi king’s royal residence to cut reeds for the annual Umhlanga Reed dance scheduled to take place on Sunday.

According to the Times of Swaziland‚ they were apparently travelling in an open truck which smashed into another vehicle and was then hit in the rear by a second truck.

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

SSN charged that “as expected”‚ the media and the police had been barred from reporting extensively on the accident.

It called for the traditional reed dance to be cancelled with immediate effect and the celebration to be turned instead into a prayer service to mourn the maidens who died in the accident.

“The least that the royal family can do at this moment is to cancel this year’s reed dance and admit its responsibility in this horrific accident by helping these families bury their children‚” the rights group said in a statement.

It is not immediately known whether the ceremony is going ahead as scheduled on Sunday. The king often chooses a new wife at the ceremony.