PASSENGERS on the General Bande bus had pleaded with the
driver to slow down along the way from Harare to Mutare before Saturday’s
horror crash, which has since claimed 16 lives.
Fourteen people died on the spot when the bus collided with
a haulage truck on Saturday around 1700 hours while two more died upon
admission at Mutare Provincial Hospital.
Out of the 40 injured persons that were taken to the
hospital soon after the accident, 12 were still admitted at the hospital on
Wednesday with one of them still in the intensive care unit.
Survivors of the accident who are still recovering at
Mutare Provincial Hospital said the bus was speeding and their pleas for the
driver to slow down fell on deaf ears.
Barrister Mayengamhuru, who lives in Gweru and boarded the
General Bande bus at Fourth Street rank in Harare said: “What happened is when
we approached a curve along the road around Shamu village the bus was
travelling at an excessive speed and the surface was bumpy. The bus spun out of
control and then swerved to the left.
“The bus driver at first tried to bring it back on lane but
failed as it swerved again and slewed across the road resulting in the oncoming
haulage truck ramming straight into the bus. In fact, the haulage truck driver
tried to avoid hitting the bus but the distance was so close that he could not.
The bus was left facing the Harare direction where we were coming from.”
Mayengamhuru, who sustained chest and head injuries, kept
reiterating that the driver was speeding and lost control of the bus at a
curve.
The driver of the haulage truck, Raphael Chitashara, who
survived the accident, told this newspaper from his hospital bed that he tried
to avoid hitting the bus but it was too late.
“The way I saw it is that the bus was speeding and as it
approached this bumpy surface, the driver applied emergency breaks resulting in
the bus swerving and he failed to control it. That is why it then closed the
two lanes across the road and I was left to hit straight into the bus,” he
said.
Chido Musarurwa, who also boarded the bus at Fourth Street
in Harare and has since been discharged at Mutare Provincial Hospital, said
several pleas were made to the driver to reduce speed but somehow he couldn’t
listen.
“On about five or six occasions people warned the driver
against speeding but somehow he kept on travelling at an excessive speed. It
appeared to me that the passengers had resigned to fate and also hoping that
maybe they would arrive safely since we were into the last 60 kilometres of the
journey,” she said.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul
Nyathi also said they gathered that the driver was initially warned against
travelling at an excessive speed.
“We have also gathered that the bus driver had been warned
against speeding prior to the accident but he did not take heed. It is
unfortunate that we continue losing lives unnecessarily. We strongly warn
motorists against speeding for their own safety and the safety of other road users,”
said Assistant Commissioner Nyathi.
Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba
and the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Cde Joel Biggie
Matiza separately visited the injured at Mutare Provincial General Hospital.
Manica Post
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