Sixteen prison officers cheat death

By Auxilia Katongomara

SIXTEEN prison officers were injured, nine of them seriously when a truck they were travelling in was side-swiped by a haulage truck along the Gokwe-Kwekwe Road on Friday.

The officers, a majority of them female, were travelling from Whawha Prison to Gokwe.  They had attended a female officers meeting at Whawha.

The accident occurred at the 56km peg from Gokwe along Kwekwe road around 7PM.

Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services Public Relations Officer for Midlands-Masvingo province Senior Prison Officer Stanslous Sanike, confirmed the accident.

“I can confirm that one of our trucks which was heading to Gokwe was involved in an accident on Friday.  It was carrying 16 officers and four dependents when the accident occurred,” he said.

He said the driver of the prisons truck was critically injured and has been transferred from Gokwe Hospital to Southmed Hospital in Chitungwiza.

“From the nine, two are still admitted at Gokwe Hospital while the rest have been discharged,” he said.

Sources say the prisons truck veered off the road and overturned after being side-swiped by the haulage truck. Chronicle