News / Regional
Kombi strategy, 9 seriously injured
09 Dec 2014 at 08:11hrs | Views
NINE people were seriously injured when a kombi they were travelling in veered off the road after being hit by a Toyota Ipsum on its left side along Old Esigodini Road adjacent to Ilanda suburb on Sunday.
The accident happened at around 6pm, with the injured passengers immediately being ferried to nearby United Bulawayo Hospitals.
The kombi was ferrying people from the city centre to Manningdale when the Toyota Ipsum that was exiting the Infectious Disease Hospital at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) reportedly failed to give way.
The driver of the kombi fled the scene after realising that his passengers were badly hurt, an issue that made most eyewitnesses suspect that he was either under the influence of alcohol or unlicensed.
Efforts to get a comment from the police were fruitless as the Bulawayo spokesperson referred questions to Harare, while his counterparts in Harare referred questions back to Bulawayo.
Eye witnesses and a passenger told the Southern Eye that the kombi driver was speeding and the Ipsum driver failed to give way to the traffic coming from his right, leading to the accident.
"The Ipsum driver is lucky not to be hurt because he was wearing his seatbelt, he was wrong in not giving way and so was the kombi driver in speeding," a local vendor known as MaNcube said.
"We hope no one dies from injuries sustained from this accident."
A passenger, Themba Maphosa, said he was lucky not to be injured as he was sitting in the back seat.
The kombi was badly damaged.
The accident happened at around 6pm, with the injured passengers immediately being ferried to nearby United Bulawayo Hospitals.
The kombi was ferrying people from the city centre to Manningdale when the Toyota Ipsum that was exiting the Infectious Disease Hospital at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) reportedly failed to give way.
The driver of the kombi fled the scene after realising that his passengers were badly hurt, an issue that made most eyewitnesses suspect that he was either under the influence of alcohol or unlicensed.
Efforts to get a comment from the police were fruitless as the Bulawayo spokesperson referred questions to Harare, while his counterparts in Harare referred questions back to Bulawayo.
Eye witnesses and a passenger told the Southern Eye that the kombi driver was speeding and the Ipsum driver failed to give way to the traffic coming from his right, leading to the accident.
"The Ipsum driver is lucky not to be hurt because he was wearing his seatbelt, he was wrong in not giving way and so was the kombi driver in speeding," a local vendor known as MaNcube said.
"We hope no one dies from injuries sustained from this accident."
A passenger, Themba Maphosa, said he was lucky not to be injured as he was sitting in the back seat.
The kombi was badly damaged.
Source - Southern Eye
