The Sunday News
Fairness Moyana Sunday News Correspondent
FIVE people were reportedly injured when five haulage trucks collided resulting in a pile-up at the 235-kilometre peg along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway on Friday. Although Matabeleland North provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Siphiwe Makonese, was not reachable for comment, police officers said they were now investigating the cause of the accident which resulted in the road being closed for six hours.
Witnesses said the accident happened around 2pm when a haulage truck coming from Hwange attempted to overtake another truck which was struggling to go uphill.
They said half-way through overtaking another truck appeared from the opposite direction on a blind corner resulting in the trucks colliding head-on.
The injured were rushed to Hwange Colliery Hospital but their condition could not be ascertained yesterday.
“The truck driver was trying to overtake a slow- moving truck and in the process collided with another truck which was coming from Bulawayo. It was a terrible sight, people were badly injured in the accident and before we knew it several trucks which were coming down a blind slope rammed into the back on the truck coming from Bulawayo,” said Mr James Mwinga, a local villager who witnessed the incident.
The area is well known for its sharp curves which drag for 40 kilometres and two truck drivers died earlier this year when their trucks collided at the same spot.
Meanwhile, a tanker ferrying diesel to Hwange collided with a passenger train bound for Victoria Falls in Gwayi after its trailer wheels got stuck in the railway tracks in the early hours of yesterday.
Some of the train’s coaches derailed as a result of the impact but sources said no one was seriously injured.
