Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
TWO people died on the spot while scores were injured yesterday when a haulage truck and a Nyaradzo Funeral Services bus that was carrying mourners collided along the Bulawayo-Harare highway near Cement Siding.
The mourners were returning from Lower Gweru, Midlands province after burying a relative when the bus driver is said to have encroached onto oncoming traffic while trying to overtake.
The bus collided with the haulage truck that was carrying approximately 40 000 bricks.
Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Linos Phiri said there were almost 80 people on the bus.
“We are still conducting a head count to determine how many people were involved in this accident. So far two people died on the spot, one of them being the driver of the haulage truck and the other being a woman on the bus.
The other passengers were injured while the bus driver broke his legs in the collision,” he said.
When a Chronicle news crew visited the accident scene, the mangled remains of the haulage truck showed the gravity of the accident.
Victims were seated on the road side in shock.
The Fire Brigade team had to cut the roof of the haulage truck to remove the dismembered body of the driver as ambulance teams were attending to accident victims.
There were several ambulances that ferried badly injured survivors to United Bulawayo Hospitals.
There was a traffic jam on the Bulawayo-Harare highway caused by the accident that lasted for more than an hour as rescue teams worked to help the injured.
The traffic jam stretched for almost a kilometre. Police who man the roadblock next to Cecil Avenue along the highway, had to block traffic and only emergency services were allowed to pass through.
One of the survivors, Mr Xolani Moyo said the family was coming from the burial of their grandmother in Dufuya, Lower Gweru.
“We really don’t know what happened. The driver tried to overtake and the next thing we were involved in an accident. We might have lost other relatives but we are still waiting for authorities to confirm that. We are in pain and shocked at the same time,” said Mr Moyo.- Follow on Twitter @bonganinkunzi
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu