FOUR Unki Mine workers died and 68 others were injured yesterday when the bus they were travelling in fell off a bridge and plunged into a river on the Boterekwa gorge near Shurugwi.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU STAFF REPORTER
An Unki Mine source said the bus was carrying 72 mine workers home after a night duty stint and the driver was suspected to have slept as he approached the narrow bridge and then lost control of the bus.
“Only one vehicle at a time can pass through that bridge and we suspect that the driver slept because the bus climbed the concrete slab on one side of the bridge and the driver managed to control it back onto the road, but it then went on to climb the slabs on the other side of the bridge,” said the source.
National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed that an Unki Mine bus plunged off a bridge and into the river at around 5:30am along the mine road just off the Gweru-Zvishavane main road killing four workers on the spot and injuring the rest.
Nyathi said three were critically injured and airlifted to Harare while 30 seriously injured workers were admitted at Gweru Provincial Hospital and Shurugwi District Hospital, with the rest scattered around other health centres in the Midlands province.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police would like to confirm that four Unki Mine workers died on the spot yesterday morning,” said Nyathi.
“The bus was travelling along Unki Mine road off the Gweru-Zvishavane main road and hit the bridge rails and plunged into the river.”
