A passenger bus belonging to Mazhandu Family Bus Services, registration number ABX 8677, has been burnt to ashes along Livingstone-Zimba road.
ZANIS reports that Southern Province Commissioner of Police, Charity Katanga confirmed the incident an interview in Livingstone , yesterday
Mrs. Katanga said the incident happened 25 kilometres from Zimba.
She said the Driver of the bus noticed some smoke and stopped the bus after which all the passengers disembarked safely and the luggage removed.
She said no passenger was injured and no luggage was destroyed in the inferno.
Recently, 53 people died in one of the worst traffic accidents in the country in Chibombo District.
This was after a bus operated by the postal service, but also carrying many ordinary passengers, collided head- on with a semi-truck and another sport utility vehicle, causing dozens of deaths and several injuries, near the town of Chilbombo.
[pullquote]37.94 out of 100,000 people in Zambia died in highway and road accidents in 2011, making it the world’s eleventh most dangerous country [/pullquote]
The postal truck, carrying 74 passengers, was moving on a two-lane highway toward the capital of Lusaka.
The Associated Press reported that police investigators had not determined the cause of the crash even hours after it occurred. The final death toll could rise as bodies remain trapped inside the wreckage of the mangled vehicles.
But Harry Kalaba, an official in the vice president’s office, told Agence France-Presse that all three vehicles were speeding.
The highway where the smashup happened reportedly carries very heavy traffic, even at night.
Zambian President Michael Sata expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
“Allow me on behalf of my Cabinet, the first lady and indeed on my own behalf to convey my deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” Sata said.
“We pray that the Lord Almighty grants the bereaved families comfort and strength during this very painful period.”
The country has witnessed such carnage on its highways. In 2005, for example 44 people were killed when a truck filled with high school students slipped off a mountain road in the north of the country..
According to the police, traffic fatalities have been increasing for the past decade, currently exceeding 1,200 annually (about half of them pedestrians, including many children).
The World Health Organization in particular has noted that 37.94 out of 100,000 people in Zambia died in highway and road accidents in 2011, making it the world’s eleventh most dangerous country with respect to traffic fatalities.
ZANIS
Thank God everyone is safe. Road safety should be priority for these bus companies.
Thank God for this. But until police and other road traffic authorities start taking road safety seriously, bus drivers equally won’t. How can you enforce laws that that you’re busy breaking? How often do we see police vehicles with broken or no indicator lights? policemen beating red lights even when they are not responding to an emergency situation? Policemen passing a broken down vehicle parked dangerously on the road withou insisting that it be pulled off the road? These are daily occurrences that have now become acceptable in our moral fabric – confirming mediocrity as part of a culture!
Charity Katanga is woman of the year.
Everywhere she is goes disaster follows her.
#1.1 Wanu Ngwee,
You are spot on!
That’s the power of prayer. Let’s continue praying against this spirit countrymen. Jehovah is in control.
Amen to that. We should continue praying…
LT poor reporting No PICs you could have downloaded from ZWD
I was readig the same story on WD and my God, you should see the reasoning of some bloggers there, most are talking about sacrifices, blood etc. Maybe be we need to go back to the basics; 1)It is a fact that the number of vehicles on Zambian roads has increased but the road infrastracture has remained the same and in some instances deteriorated. 2) How many drivers have genuine driving licenses? 3) There is no policy in Zambia on importation of both new and second hand vehicles, 4) What is the role of traffic police on the roads. We need to pray for the safety of road users but lets us sort out these issues and our roads will be very safe.
GOOD DRIVER. QUICK TO ACT. CHECK THE REMAINING FLEET TO MAKE SURE IT NEVER HAPPENEDS.
Check for what??
THIS WAS ANOTHER ACT OF BAMFORMET!!!! SATANISTS ARE IT AGAIN!!!!
Its not an ideal world where we cant have accidents. This was an accident caused by e.g Poor maintenance or poor quality from china ( bus was Chinese made).
These rear engined buses are notoriously catching fires, could it be a design fault?? There is a fire extinguish bottom on the dash board did the driver use it??
Most bloggers are too childish and immature to speak/contribute sensibly.
Great to hear that there are no casualties. I think that’s the difference between a good and bad transporter. Fire accidents are sometimes unavoidable, we use alot of things made by other people, but when a transporter has good systems in place, even with such, lives are spared. Bravo Mazhandu!!!
Thank God everyone is safe.
Must say though that this article was very poorly written.
Thank God that no death is report,but it stil remain the duty of the road user especially the drivers to observe the laid down traffic rules and regulations .
Why did the driver stop when he saw smoke? RTSA must invoke his licence for causing unecssary delay to the passengers