Two members of the Johane Masowe Apostolic sect were killed while 23 others were seriously injured yesterday morning when their hired commuter omnibus rammed into a parked haulage truck near Kuwadzana along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
The injured were ferried to Harare Central Hospital and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
The sect members were travelling from Bulawayo to Gombekombe, Chiweshe, for a prayer session. Witnesses who spoke to NewsDay at the accident scene said they suspected the commuter omnibus was speeding, resulting in the driver failing to avoid the parked haulage truck.
“The driver of the commuter omnibus was speeding when he discovered that they was a parked haulage truck, but it was too late for him to avoid it since there was a vehicle on the side lane,” Jerald Chapendama of Kuwadzana said. Another witness, Cornelius Chikukwa, said the driver of the haulage truck had not displayed the red triangle reflectors to warn other motorists of the breakdown.
“I was driving behind the commuter omnibus and it was moving fast only to find it had rammed into a parked truck when we arrived at the accident scene,” said another, witness who declined to be named. “From the discussion that we heard between the apostolic sect members themselves, the driver was dozing on the steering.”
In another accident along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway at Family 24 Leisure Joint, two women died on the spot while the male driver of the BMW vehicle they were travelling in was seriously injured when he lost control of the car resulting in it crashing into a brokendown lorry.
Police chief spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the accidents yesterday. Charamba, in a statement last night, urged drivers to be cautious on the roads and avoid speeding. “The Zimbabwe Republic Police would like to confirm the occurrence of two road fatal accidents along Harare-Bulawayo Road at the 13km peg near Kuwadzana and 26km peg near Norton where four people have died,” Charamba said. “In the first accident the driver of the haulage truck who was towing a trailer had a breakdown along the Bulawayo Road,” Charamba said.
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“The second party was driving an Iveco Sprinter commuter minibus with 33 passengers on board rammed into the truck from behind. Two people died on the spot while 23 others were injured.”
She said in the second accident, a BMW which was travelling towards Harare rammed into a stationary truck which had broken down on the road.
“Two people died on the spot while the driver of the BMW was referred to Norton Hospital due to serious injuries sustained. The bodies of the deceased were conveyed to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and Norton Hospital for post-mortem.”
