The family which cheated death by a whisker when a haulage truck crashed into the house while they were asleep are thanking their five-year-old daughter for saving them.
The Midzi family lives adjacent to the round-about at the
confluence of Robert Mugabe and Kumbirai Kangai (Aerodrome) roads in Mutare. The
house was reduced to a rubble, bolstering calls by stakeholders for the swift
construction of the alternative Christmas Pass Bypass route to reduce the
frequency of accidents on either ends of the eight-kilometre steep stretch.
The Manica Post reports that this is the 18th road accident at the property since 2007,
and the family now lives in perpetual fear of being wiped out as haulage trucks
which develop brake failure continue to fly down the Christmas Pass slopes, and
crash into the property.
Kierra and her mother, Ms Melania Midzi, usually sleep in
the main bedroom, which was mowed down by the truck, while both were asleep in
the sitting room.
Three rooms, including the main bedroom, spare bedroom and
kitchen, were extensively damaged, prompting the community to demand swift
action to prevent further tragedies.
In an interview, a petrified Ms Midzi said the worst could
have happened had Kierra not insisted that they both put up in the sitting
room.
“I am still traumatised and shocked. My little daughter is
my angel. She insisted that we sleep in the sitting room, otherwise both of us
would have died had I not listened to her,” she said, adding that the other
bedroom that was destroyed is often shared by her niece, Mary, and their
domestic worker, who both were away for the holidays.
“If they had been around, we could have been talking of a
different and sad story. Both travelled for the holidays, and were supposed to
be back on Tuesday, but they did not. I believe it was God’s miraculous hand
that stopped and spared them from this accident. Had things been different, all
of us would have perished in our sleep,” she said, adding that the accident
happened around 1am.
Ms Midzi said she heard the flying truck smashing
barricades as it charged toward the house.
“I heard the truck making a lot of noise, and immediately
knew it was charging towards us. All I could do was pick my little girl from
her slumber. I did not know what to do next, considering the trauma of the 17
previous accidents,” she said.
Ms Midzi said they have been petitioning Mutare City
Council since 2007 to be relocated, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
“At one time we were told that it was expensive to relocate
us. We have written to them on many occasions, and it seems they want to act
when someone has died first. You can imagine the trauma that we have been
enduring since 2007 when the first accident occurred. This is the 18th
accident, and its trauma after trauma,” she said.
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