THREE people died on the spot when a Toyota Vitz they were travelling in was involved in a head-on collision with a Toyota Condor along Plumtree Road just after Bellevue shopping centre in Bulawayo yesterday.
BENSON DUBE OWN CORRESPONDENT
The Vitz had five passengers, including the driver. The driver of the Vitz and two passengers died on the spot while Joy Mpofu and Arnold Phuti sustained serious injuries.
The Vitz belongs to Anesu Driving School and Mpofu and Phuti said they were coming from the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) in Plumtree.
The four Condor passengers also suffered severe injuries, but the driver escaped without a scratch. The two vehicles were a total right-off. The fire brigade used the Jaws of Life to cut open the Vitz and remove the trapped bodies, including the driver.
Two ambulances arrived at the scene and ferried the injured to hospital after a doctor Nkonzo Ndebele had attended to one of the seriously injured passengers.
According to Ndebele, Mpofu was pregnant and was injured in the pelvis skittle area. She was writhing in pain and continuously asking for her mobile phone.
A Southern Eye crew witnessed blood dripping from the Vitz while brain matter littered parts of the road.
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Bodies of the deceased lay covered with red blankets on the road as the police arrived at the scene without the metal coffins used to carry bodies to mortuaries.
Scores of people from the nearby suburbs of Bellevue and Nketa gathered at the scene and the road was closed as rescue work was in progress.
Ngugama Nhamo, the driver of the Toyota Condor, said he had just picked passengers from Bellevue shopping centre on his way to Botswana.
“While approaching a curve, I saw the Vitz encroaching into my lane as it avoided colliding with another vehicle that was travelling towards the city,” said Nhamo.
“He encroached onto my lane while travelling at a very high speed. I tried to avoid him, but the speed was just excessive, resulting in the head-on collision.
“My car flew out of the road and crash landed leaving my passengers injured as you can see.”
An eyewitness, who chose anonymity, said the Vitz caused the accident as the driver was recklessly speeding.
In an unrelated accident, an Emganwini man was knocked and killed by a Toyota Raum along Nketa Drive near Didizela bottle store in the suburb on Saturday as the driver fled from an earlier accident his car had caused with a commuter omnibus.
The man died on the spot and police took hours to collect the his body.
The accident occurred at around 4pm, but the police’s metal coffin was only brought to the scene at around 9pm.
