Inter Africa Bus Crashes Into A Truck, Four Schoolchildren Killed
Four learners died on Wednesday afternoon after they were thrown out of a truck they were travelling on following a collision with an Inter Africa bus along the Harare-Masvingo Road.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said that the truck and the bus were travelling in the same direction, towards Masvingo.
The truck had 22 pupils on board while the bus had 59 passengers on board.
The Inter Africa bus hit the driver’s door of the T35 truck, forcing it to veer off the road to the right.
All the learners were thrown out of the truck and one of them died on the spot while three others died upon admission at Beatrice Hospital. Police said:
The ZRP confirms a fatal road traffic accident that occurred at the 81-kilometre peg along Harare-Masvingo Road on 31/05/23 at around 1600 hours in which four people were killed whilst twenty-one others were injured.
An Inter Africa Zhongtong bus travelling towards Masvingo with 59 passengers on board hit the driver’s door of a T35 truck travelling in the same direction whilst carrying 22 pupils, resulting in the T35 truck veering off the road to the right.
All pupils were thrown out of the truck and subsequently, one pupil died on the spot whilst three others died upon admission at Beatrice Hospital.
The bodies of the victims were taken to Beatrice Hospital mortuary for post-mortem whilst the injured are admitted at same hospital.
This was not the first time in May 2023 that an Inter Africa bus was involved in an accident that affected schoolchildren.
On 08 May, fifteen (15) people were injured when an Inter Africa bus they were travelling on was involved in an accident at the 68km-peg along the Nyanga-Rwenya Road.
13 of the injured were learners from Emmanuel High School and the other two were the bus driver and conductor.
The accident occurred near the spot where the fatal Regina Coeli bus disaster occurred in 1991.
The bus had 73 learners on board who were on their way to the school for the start of the second term.
On 07 May, another Inter Africa bus with seventy-five (75) Pakame High School learners on board was involved in an accident along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway.
The bus was travelling from Harare to the school which is located in Shurugwi, Midlands Province.
The accident occurred at the 181km peg along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway after a pirate taxi driver suddenly encroached onto the bus driver’s lane.
All pupils escaped unhurt, but some lost property in the fire that erupted following the collision.
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