Online Reporter
Conrad Mupesa
Mashonaland West Bureau
A banker based in Chinhoyi, Patrick Samboko, and his wife Oline (nee Mudzimba) have been identified as victims of a tragic accident that occurred at the Susunje River blackspot along the Harare-Chirundu highway on Tuesday night.
Samboko was the operations manager at FBC Chinhoyi branch, while his wife Oline had just been promoted to deputy headmistress at Chinhoyi Government Primary School a day before the accident.
The couple is survived by four children, including a one-and-a-half-year-old baby.
The fatal accident happened when their Honda Fit was involved in a head-on collision with a haulage truck transporting building slats from Kariba to Harare.
The couple was returning from a church service in Banket, located approximately 20 kilometres east of Chinhoyi.
According to the truck driver, he was side-swiped by another truck that had been travelling ahead of the couple’s vehicle, causing him to lose control of the vehicle, resulting in the devastating head-on collision that took the couple’s lives on the spot.
The other truck fled the scene shortly after the collision.
Chinhoyi residents and members of the business community described the couple as humble and God-fearing.
“We have been robbed of one of the finest couples in Chinhoyi. May their souls rest in peace,” said Mr Godfrey Mavhankeni, chairperson of the Mashonaland West Show Society.
Mourners are gathered at the couple’s residence in Mzari low-density suburb.
Susunje Bridge blackspot has claimed several lives in the past two months, with a head-on collision between a private vehicle and a haulage truck in August claiming four people.
Late last month, a learner died at the same spot after being hit by a car
Tinaye Agere