Watch : Victoria Falls Bridge closed following traffic jam after motorist abandons fuel-empty vehicle

Leonard Ncube [email protected]
THE Victoria Falls Bridge was temporarily closed this afternoon when a motorist dumped his newly imported Honda Fit in the middle of the bridge on the no-man’s land after it ran out of fuel.

The driver of the vehicle that blocked the Victoria Falls Bridge.

The man whose identity could not be established, was driving a hybrid Honda Fit with temporary foreign registration plates as it had just arrived from Tanzania via Zambia. Upon reaching the bridge, the vehicle ran out of fuel at around 1:30pm and he left it in the middle of the bridge as he rushed to get fuel from Victoria Falls town.
He returned about 30 minutes later and there was a traffic jam on either side of the bridge as vehicles comprising taxis and haulage trucks were blocked.
Drivers and vendors who operate around the two borders attempted to lift the vehicle and put it against the bridge rails but failed.
The bridge has a single lane and only a single vehicle at a time is allowed in one direction.

Some agitated men prepare to lift the Honda Fit off the drive lane on the bridge

The driver had gone with the keys but even though he had left the windows open, pushing the vehicle was not an option as the hybrid model of Honda Fit cannot move as long as its mechanical system is off.
They tried to lift the vehicle and move it closer to the rails but failed.
An attempt to tow it away also failed as the small two-tonne truck could not move it.

Refueling the vehicles on the no man’s land on the Victoria Falls Bridge

The driver then arrived with some fuel in a container.
He was met with the anger of the crowd including the Emerged Railways Property manager Mr Logan Nyasulu who said the vehicle owner was going to be charged for blocking the bridge.
“How can you do this? Why would you leave your vehicle blocking the bridge? This car will not be cleared at the border before you pay for this,” he said.
In response, the man said: “We tried to push it with the curio vendors but you know these hybrid vehicles have high security. The challenge is that the person who had gone to pick it up from Tanzania did not top up fuel and when I got it I think it had nothing. I have gone to Tanzania more than five times myself and this is what these people do, the moment they give you the car you can’t even drive to the next fuel station before the fuel is finished,” he said before being allowed to drive off towards the Zimbabwean side of the bridge to the border.