Mozambique police said yesterday that a pick-up truck ploughed into a crowd of party-goers at the weekend killing 23 people, many of whom were teenagers.

The speeding vehicle ignored orders from traffic police, hit an obstacle and veered into the local carnival in the working-class Luis Cabral neighbourhood of Maputo in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"The driver was speeding when he did not obey the signal from a traffic police officer," Maputo police spokesman Orlando Mudumane told reporters in the capital.