THREE people died on the spot and 13 were injured, some of them seriously, when a Toyota Hiace veered off the road and crash-landed on its left side along Old Esigodini Road close to Rio Hotel in Bulawayo yesterday afternoon.
LUYANDUHLOBO MAKWATI OWN CORRESPONDENT
Among the dead were one female and two male passengers. The injured were taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals.
This was reportedly the second accident at the same spot yesterday after some motorists reported that a known blue Toyota Granvia that pirates on the Waterford route was involved in a collision with a small car at around 6:30am.
The motorists reported that two people had been killed in the morning accident although the police or fire brigade could not confirm the accident. According to Bulawayo’s chief fire officer Richard Peterson, one fire tender was dispatched to clean the road of blood from the afternoon accident before it was reopened.
Peterson confirmed that three people died on the spot when the kombi which was heading into the city from How Mine overturned.
“Three people died on the spot and we sent our fire tenders to attend the scene of accident and the surviving passengers were ferried to UBH for treatment,” said Peterson. He said information they gathered from surviving passengers was that the driver was speeding and had allegedly refused to heed their pleas for him to slow down.
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Peterson said the passengers indicated that the driver told them he was fleeing traffic police. The regional manager of the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe Barbra Mpofu, who attended the scene of the accident, said they suspected it was as a result of speeding.
She said the driver could have failed to negotiate the curve resulting in the kombi careering off the road and overturning. Mpofu urged drivers to adhere to safety rules, especially ahead of the Heroes’ Day holiday next week.
Bulawayo acting provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Abednico Ncube said he could not comment on the accidents as he was not in the office. He referred Southern Eye to Chief Inspector Patrick Mahwendepi of the traffic section, who referred the paper back to Ncube.
