By SAM PHIRI –
SEVENTEEN people have died in a road traffic accident, while three others are battling for their lives at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) after a heavy truck collided with a minibus in Lusaka’s Garden House area yesterday.
The accident, which occurred around 08:00 hours along Mumbwa Road, six kilometres from the Central Business District, resulted in seven dying on the spot, while 10 others died on the way to the UTH.
• A MANGLED wreckage of the South African truck and the Toyota Hiace minibus involved in the accident on Mumbwa Road. Picture By SAM PHIRI
A Sunday Times crew that rushed to the scene around 09:00 hours found the mangled vehicles still on site as a mob of curious onlookers converged to catch a glimpse of the wreckage, while Police kept them at bay.
Lusaka Province Police Commissioner Charity Katanga said in an interview that the driver of the Mercedes Benz truck, registration number AAH 7373, who apparently escaped with minor injuries, lost
control after he attempted to overtake a Toyota Corolla, thereby hitting into a fully-loaded stationary Toyota Hiace minibus, registration number ALH 5968.
“Among the deceased were 13 male adults, three female adults and a female juvenile aged between three and five years old,” Ms Katanga said.
An eye witness Morgan Kanyembo, who owns a liquor makeshift stall some metres away from the accident scene, said the speeding truck hit into the bus twice.
“The truck first hit into the bus which rolled two times before the now flipped truck hit into the bus for the second time,” he said.
According to Mr Kanyembo, quick action by one Police officer saved the wreckage of the truck and the driver from being set ablaze by an angry mob.
The bodies of the deceased are lying in the UTH mortuary, while the injured, including the driver of the truck, were receiving treatment from the same institution.
Meanwhile, some unscrupulous people managed to steal all the four wheels and a battery from the minibus wreckage before more Police offers were deployed to the scene.
