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10 cars in pile-up leaves 10 injured

by Staff reporter
06 May 2017 at 12:35hrs | Views
MORE than 10 people were injured in an accident near Kwekwe after 10 vehicles were involved in a pile-up triggering a three hour blockade of the Bulawayo-Harare highway on Thursday evening.

Gweru magistrate Mr Tendai Madanhire who is said to be in a critical condition at a Harare hospital, was among those who were injured following the pile up.

The vehicle pile-up occurred at a flyover just before the Redcliff turnoff at around 6PM and the highway was blocked for about three hours.

Mr Madanhire who works in Gweru was driving to his home in Kwekwe when the accident occurred.

According to reports, he was trapped for almost an hour as the Fire Brigade took long to get to the accident scene.

Kwekwe mayor councillor Matenda Madzoke said while the place where the accident occurred is about 10km from his town, it fell under the jurisdiction of Redcliff town.

Redcliff mayor Clr Fred Kapuya said the Redcliff Fire Brigade attended the accident and assisted in rushing the more than 10 injured people to hospital.

He  said it was not true that the Fire Brigade took long to attend the accident.

Clr Kapuya said Mr Madanhire and another person were rushed to a Harare hospital while the rest of those who were injured were taken to Kwekwe General Hospital.

He said a commuter omnibus which was coming from Kwekwe was involved in a head on collision with a truck on the highway triggering the pile-up.

"The commuter omnibus which was coming from Kwekwe town with sixteen passengers on board tried to overtake another commuter omnibus resulting in a head-on collision with an oncoming truck. In the process he hit two vehicles including the one that was being driven by Gweru magistrate before it overturned," said Clr Kapuya.

He said after the collision, there was a pile up of vehicles on either side of the road.

Clr Kapuya said the highway was closed for nearly three hours as the Fire bridge and police battled to clear the road.

Acting Midlands provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende referred the Chronicle to police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi for comment but he could not be reached immediately.

Source - chronicle