News / National
2 die, 20 injured in Beitbridge accident
16 Mar 2018 at 06:16hrs | Views
TWO people died on the spot and another 20 were injured yesterday, when a speeding Harare-bound Munenzva bus hit a pedestrian, veered off the road and landed on its side, approximately 40 kilometres from the Beitbridge Border Post along the Beitbridge-Harare Road.
Injured passengers, including the driver who sustained a broken limb, were taken to Beitbridge District Hospital, four hours after the accident that occurred just after midnight.
The bus, which was coming from Johannesburg allegedly hit and killed a lone male pedestrian, before landing on its side and trapping a female passenger sleeping on her seat.
Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele confirmed the accident and said the names of both the deceased were being withheld because their next of kin were yet to be informed.
"The bus had 23 passengers and the driver claimed losing control after trying to avoid a man on the crown of the road. He swerved to the right, but caught the pedestrian with the left front side of the bus killing him on the spot," Ndebele said.
Passengers who survived the crash claimed the bus was speeding.
"The bus was going too fast. He failed to avoid the man and when he tried he lost control of the bus because it was going fast," Anabel Dube, who was travelling to Mvuma, said. The director of the bus company who declined to be named, but was later identified only as Regis said a spare bus had been dispatched to Beitbridge to pick passengers and their goods.
"Why would you need my name? We are dispatching another bus to pick those people," he said without saying what his company would do for the deceased.
Injured passengers, including the driver who sustained a broken limb, were taken to Beitbridge District Hospital, four hours after the accident that occurred just after midnight.
The bus, which was coming from Johannesburg allegedly hit and killed a lone male pedestrian, before landing on its side and trapping a female passenger sleeping on her seat.
Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele confirmed the accident and said the names of both the deceased were being withheld because their next of kin were yet to be informed.
Passengers who survived the crash claimed the bus was speeding.
"The bus was going too fast. He failed to avoid the man and when he tried he lost control of the bus because it was going fast," Anabel Dube, who was travelling to Mvuma, said. The director of the bus company who declined to be named, but was later identified only as Regis said a spare bus had been dispatched to Beitbridge to pick passengers and their goods.
"Why would you need my name? We are dispatching another bus to pick those people," he said without saying what his company would do for the deceased.
Source - newsday
