Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
TWO people were killed while six others were injured, four of them critically when a Zimbabwean cross border bus collided with a commercial truck near Makhado town in South Africa’s Limpopo province on Christmas Day.
The Delta bus was heading from Zimbabwe to South Africa while the truck was going in an opposite direction when tragedy struck.
In a statement, the Department of Transport and Community Safety said both the bus driver and truck driver were killed during the crash.
“The Department of Transport and Community Safety would like to clarify reports regarding the accident on N1 near Musekene,” said the department.
“On 25 December, at approximately 08h30, a collision occurred between an Isuzu Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) and a bus on the N1-29, between Masekwa Bricks and Masekena Garage in Vhembe district.
“The HMV driver overtook on a barrier line, colliding head-on with the bus. The accident resulted in two male drivers (from the bus and HMV) deceased, two passengers from the bus seriously injured, and four passengers from the bus critically injured. The probable cause of the accident is reckless and negligent driving.”
The N1, which is a major commercial road linking South Africa to Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, DRC, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola and Mozambique has become a death trap for most road users.
Fatal accidents are usually common between Musina and Makhado towns where on some sections of the highways there are sharp curves and the area is mountainous.
On Tuesday this week, scores of Zimbabweans travelling to South Africa in a cross border bus narrowly escaped death when the bus was involved in a pile up accident involving a truck and a light vehicle 11km from Makhado town in Limpopo province on Tuesday morning along the N1 highway.
The bus driver was seriously injured in the crash and was taken to the hospital while the passengers sought alternative transport and continued with their journey to Gauteng province.
In October this year, an overloaded Zimbabwean cross border bus plunged into a cliff outside Makhado causing the death of 44 people among them 36 Zimbabweans and eight Malawians.
A total of 49 passengers were injured during the incident with some still hospitalised across Limpopo province.
The bus, which was en route from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape to Harare, was also overloaded, carrying 91 passengers despite having a seating capacity of only 62.
