SEVEN people believed to be from the same family died on the spot on Friday night when a Toyota Granvia they were travelling in was involved in a head-on collision with a haulage truck near Gweru.
LINDA CHINOBVA
OWN CORRESPONDENT
According to eyewitness, the driver of the haulage truck identified as Misheck Mukono, who survived the accident, claimed the driver of the Granvia encouraged into his lane.
The Granvia was reportedly hit on its right side near the Tree Top tollgate and all the people on board were killed on the spot.
The mangled wreckage of the Granvia was trapped under the haulage truck when a Southern Eye crew arrived on the scene.
Most of the bodies were retrieved from the wreckage on Friday, but police had to return to the scene on Saturday morning to retrieve a decapitated head of an infant.
Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner, Charity Charamba, was not answering her mobile phone yesterday to provide full details on the accident.
But another police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi told ZBC preliminary investigations indicated “that the driver of the Toyota Granvia who was travelling towards Gweru stopped and parked on the right side of the road”.
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“On trying to get back into the road the vehicle was hit by the Freightliner haulage truck that was travelling towards Bulawayo. All the passengers in the Toyota Granvia died on the spot,” ZBC quoted Nyathi saying.
“The driver of the haulage truck, however, survived the accident and had no serious injuries.
“The bodies of the deceased were taken to Gweru provincial hospital mortuary where they are awaiting post mortem.”
Names of the deceased are still being withheld until their next of kin have been informed.
A spate of fatal accidents have been recorded across the country amid concerns the poor road network is the major cause. There have also been calls to ban the use of secondhand Japanese cars such as the Toyota Granvia as public transport vehicles.
