15 people perish in horror crashes

Fifteen Zimbabweans died in two separate road traffic accidents yesterday, nine in South Africa and six along the Bulawayo-Harare Highway.

In the South Africa accident, nine Zimbabweans died early in the morning when a commuter omnibus rammed a stationary Zambian haulage truck near Naboomspruit on the N1 highway in Limpopo Province.

The second accident, which claimed six lives on the spot along the Bulawayo-Harare Highway, occurred after a Toyota Ipsum they were travelling in encroached into the opposite lane and collided head-on with a Colbro Haulage truck.

South Africa’s Limpopo Province police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ronel Otto said the accident, which claimed the lives of nine Zimbabweans, occurred at around 1:15am.

“Preliminary investigations are that the Zambian truck was stuck on the N1 Highway some 15 kilometres south of Naboomspruit,” she said.

“Part of the truck was on the emergency lane, while the other part was on the slow lane.

“A kombi travelling from Musina with 10 passengers collided with the truck from behind, resulting in both vehicles catching fire.”

Col Otto said the driver of the commuter omnibus died on the spot together with eight other passengers, while two escaped with serious injuries.

The bodies are at Naboomspruit government hospital mortuary for identification, where one of the injured was treated and discharged and the other is still hospitalised.

Col Otto said the truck driver and his passenger were not injured, adding that the driver would appear at Naboomspruit Magistrates Court charged with culpable homicide.

The accident comes shortly after seven other Zimbabweans were killed when a commuter omnibus they were travelling with collided with a haulage truck some two kilometres from Beitbridge border post along the same highway.

Zimbabwe’s Consul General to South Africa Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro said yesterday that they were working with South African authorities to ensure the tragedy did not bring more challenges to relatives.

“We hope that the identification process will not be too long so that we can facilitate the putting to rest of our fellow citizens at the shortest possible time.” he said.

“We would also want to urge Zimbabweans to always travel legally with travel documents as this makes the identification and repatriation processes easy.”

The Bulawayo-Harare Highway accident occured on the six-kilometre peg just outside the Bulawayo city centre.

Bulawayo Metropolitan province police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango said all the people in the Toyota Ipsum died on the spot, while the driver of the haulage truck escaped unhurt.

“The driver of the Toyota Ipsum was driving without a licence,” she said. “The driver, including five passengers in the Toyota Ipsum, died on the spot.”

The Toyota Ipsum was a write off, while the haulage truck suffered serious damages. The Chronicle