Ethiopian embassy officials visit crash victims

TWO officials from the Ethiopian Embassy yesterday visited their compatriots hospitalised in Bulawayo hospitals to identify them but said they had nothing to offer besides connecting patients to their families back home.

The representatives said they wanted to connect the patients with their relatives so that theycould send money for medical treatment.

The officials who did not disclose their positions engaged with officials at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) and Mpilo Central Hospital to assist in identifying accident victims.

Tefra Saba who was with a translator said: "We are only here to identify them so that we can connect to their families."

She declined to comment further saying she will get back at The Chronicle.

However, Mpilo Central Hospital's public relations officer Faith Ndlovu said the embassy representatives did not promise any medical assistance for patients even after being told of the desperate situation at the hospital.

During their visit they went to the wards where they spoke to patients.

Ndlovu said: "The Ethiopians need medical drugs. They also need to go for X-ray scans. They didn't say how they are going to assist the patients."

One of the patients is still admitted at Mpilo's Intensive Care Unit while two are recovering in the hospital's Ward B under police guard.

UBH's chief executive officer Nonhlanhla Ndlovu said the officials also gathered information on their identification particulars.

Immigration sources said three Ethiopians who were discharged from UBH are now being held at a local prison awaiting deportation.

The source said passports of the Ethiopian immigrants were last stamped in Tanzania and Kenya.

The Ethiopians who were allegedly being trafficked to South Africa were involved in an accident on Tuesday morning after the Toyota Hiace they were travelling in burst a front tyre, veered off the road and overturned before landing on its left side.