News / National
Haulage truck carrying cobalt overturns, killing one
12 Jun 2019 at 02:11hrs | Views
One person died, while several others were injured on Monday when a South Africa-bound haulage truck carrying bags of cobalt veered off the road, overturned and landed on its roof at the 60km peg along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road.
Acting Bulawayo chief fire officer Edward Mpofu told Southern Eye that the Zalawi haulage truck was coming from Zambia en route to South Africa carrying bags of cobalt, used to manufacture explosives.
"The truck veered off the road at the 60km peg along the Victoria Falls-Bulawayo Road and landed on its roof, in the process killing one of its security guards. Cobalt bags spilled onto a Hyundai vehicle that was parked on the side of the road," Mpofu said.
"One person believed to be a driver of the truck escaped with some injuries, together with four other people who were in the small vehicle. They were all ferried to Mpilo Hospital. We then called the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to come and assist."
EMA Bulawayo provincial manager Decent Ndlovu confirmed the accident.
"Although the accident happened in Matabeleland North, which is not our area, we managed to dispatch our team to go and assess the situation," Ndlovu said.
"They went there to work with the police and cordon the area. We only know that it was carrying cobalt, but there are different types of it. We are not yet sure which one it was."
Acting Bulawayo chief fire officer Edward Mpofu told Southern Eye that the Zalawi haulage truck was coming from Zambia en route to South Africa carrying bags of cobalt, used to manufacture explosives.
"The truck veered off the road at the 60km peg along the Victoria Falls-Bulawayo Road and landed on its roof, in the process killing one of its security guards. Cobalt bags spilled onto a Hyundai vehicle that was parked on the side of the road," Mpofu said.
EMA Bulawayo provincial manager Decent Ndlovu confirmed the accident.
"Although the accident happened in Matabeleland North, which is not our area, we managed to dispatch our team to go and assess the situation," Ndlovu said.
"They went there to work with the police and cordon the area. We only know that it was carrying cobalt, but there are different types of it. We are not yet sure which one it was."
Source - newsday
