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Paul Pindani in CHINHOYI
PASSENGERS and witnesses are hailing a driver of a cross-border bus as a hero after an accident in Karoi on Saturday night in which everyone on board escaped with their lives.
The Elsberry Coach bus was on its way to Karoi from South Africa.
The bus driver was trying to overtake a kombi, which then encroached into his lane, leading to the accident at the Chehanga Bridge, Kasimhure Village, Karoi, along the Harare-Chirundu highway.
Ten passengers were on board the bus.
One of the conductors, who preferred not to be identified, said the bus driver saved them.
“The bus driver is the hero for today as he applied his defence driving skills, pangadai paita tsaona yakaipisisa,” he said.
The driver of the bus, Archifold Svikira, said he wanted to overtake the kombi but it encroached into his lane.
“I was about to overtake the kombi but, unfortunately, the driver of the kombi encroached into my lane and I hit the kombi resulting in the bus veering off the road into the forest.
“I calculated that if I wanted to follow the road the bus was going to overturn, so I had to veer off the road into the forest and grazed the grass looking for a flat area and managed to stop the bus,” said Svikira.
One of the eyewitnesses, Denny Zuze, said he was moulding bricks when they heard a loud bang and the wailing of people near the Chehanga bridge.
Zuze and a few villagers headed for the bridge to see what had happened.
“We were moulding bricks a few metres from the bridge when we heard people crying for help. We immediately left what we were doing and rushed to the scene to help the passengers.
“Most of the groceries were destroyed and I want to thank the driver because he remained composed to save lives, otherwise there were going to be fatalities if it was not for his good defence driving skills,” said Zuze.
A passenger, Getrude Chivava, told H-Metro they were lucky to be alive.
“I am lucky to be alive as the bus veered off the road and went off route in the grass for a few metres until it stopped.
“I managed to pull out all my groceries.
“I am from Beitbridge and was going to Karoi to sell some groceries, “ said Chivava.
Online Reporter