Friday, March 29, 2024

Truck overturns at Wusakile roundabout and crushes 2 pedestrians to death in Kitwe

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Warning: Article contains disturbing images for sensitive viewers

Police seal off the accident scene from members of the public while some people help remove dressed chickens from the container
Police seal off the accident scene from members of
the public while some people help remove dressed chickens from the
container

Two pedestrians yesterday died on the spot when a truck en-route to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) flipped on to them at Wusakile round about in Kitwe.

The truck, which had a refrigerated container fell on the two victims after its lost control around 06:00 hours.The bodies which were trapped under the truck were only retrieved after four hours by the fire brigade.

The victims were believed to have been on their way to work.Their bodies are lying at Kitwe Central Hospital (KCH) mortuary.

Copperbelt police commissioner Mary Tembo identified the driver of the truck as Jumas Nangolo, 35, of house number 245 Luderite Area in Namibia.

“The particulars of the two victims are not known. They suffered fatal injuries and the accident happened when the truck driver failed to negotiate the Wusakile roundabout due to excessive speed.

“The truck fell on two people who were standing on the side of the road at about 06.00 hours,” Ms Tembo said.

Mr Nangolo, who was driving the Freightliner truck registration number N26830J and carrying about 28 tonnes of dressed chicken, sustained general body pains and was admitted at KCH for observation.

He was transporting the chickens from Walvis Bay in Namibia to Lubumbashi in DRC with the truck belonging to Corridor Logistics of Namibia.

It is reported that it was the first time Mr Nangolo was using that route to DRC.

An Eye witness at the scene, Justine Chilongwa said immediately after the truck overturned, scores of people mostly residents of Wusakile Township rushed to the container to loot boxes of dressed chickens before police officers arrived at the scene to contain the situation.

Mr Chilongwa said police fired a shot in the air to disperse curious on lookers who remained at the scene from 06.00 hours until 12.50 hours when the container was completely removed from the accident scene.

More than 30 police officers, some in riot gear, kept vigil of the over 100 onlookers until all the consignment from the damaged container were loaded into another waiting truck.

The onlookers got agitated when they saw the two trapped bodies being retrieved and loaded in the police vehicle.

Kitwe District Commissioner Elias Kamanga visited the accident scene and appealed to the police and Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) to ensure that roads were safe and that motorists complied with road traffic regulations.

Mr Kamanga said Government was investing substantially in the rail way transport to reduce pressure on roads because of heavy traffic and that this would prolong the lifespan of roads in the country.

Rescue officers retrieving the body of the accident victim which occurred at Wusakile Roundabout
Rescue officers retrieving the body of the accident
victim which occurred at Wusakile Roundabout
Rescue officers retrieving the body of the accident victim which occurred at Wusakile Roundabout
Rescue officers retrieving the body of the accident
victim which occurred at Wusakile Roundabout
Rescue officers retrieving the body of the accident victim which occurred at Wusakile Roundabout
Rescue officers retrieving the body of the accident
victim which occurred at Wusakile Roundabout
Police seal off the accident scene from members of the public while some people help remove dressed chickens from the container
Police seal off the accident scene from members of
the public while some people help remove dressed chickens from the
container
The freightliner truck whose refrigerated container fell on two pedestrians at Wusakile Roundabout
The freightliner truck whose refrigerated container fell on
two pedestrians at Wusakile Roundabout
Police seal off the accident scene from members of the public.
Police seal off the accident scene from members of the
public.

26 COMMENTS

  1. This is indeed sad.Poverty can make people do crazy things.I can`t just understand why a normal person can steal from an accident scene before making sure that the victims are safe.Mtsrip.

    • The other thing is the Wusakile police station is in the nose of the round about and where the incident occurred police does not require transport to visit the scene.The question that need answers is what’s the use of having police if they cannot protect people’s property.Where were the police when the Wusakile and Miseshi residents started looting chickens from the truck? I take it that the police families were part of the looting that’s why they did not worry much till when their families had enough that’s when the police swung into action.I mourn with the families who have lost their beloved ones,Most of the people waiting for transport around this place are miners and its really sad that they met their deaths unexpectedly.Can the traffic police and RATSA also ensure that those…

    • taxis and mini buses that load passengers just there by the round about should be moved some 30-50 metres away from the traffic circle.Because you find that these taxis and mini buses most of the time they block one lane of the dual carriage way in the traffic circle as they do their business in the full view of Wusakile traffic police. Also Zambians let us develop a habit of boarding buses and taxis at the designated bus stop or station areas only.This will also help to reduce or avoid interface between pedestrians and motorists.Kitwe City Council once again its your duty to ensure that the required and specific road safety signage are in place.Its cost nothing to replace damaged or stolen road signage that will go a long way to help reduce road traffic accidents and save lives.

  2. THE truck overturns instead of helping the victimes at the scene of accident, hungry people who have had no decent meals in their homes wants to loot the chickens on transit to DRC very sad.

  3. Very Sad, MTSRIP. Sad also that our people have the spirit of theft. Instead of helping, they are busy stealing chickens?? What a country?? Poverty has led us to lose our Human Values. WE NEED SERIOUS PRAYER FOR OUR PEOPLE.

  4. Kitwe City Council and RATSA please this Wusakile round about has been a source of trucks overturning for a long time now and many lives / property have been lost yet we are still watching without coming up with solutions to mitigate and reduce o accidents at this area. This round about and the freedom park traffic lights accidents have been going on for years now but thanks to the speed humps constructed on President avenue that will reduce accidents at the Freedom park traffic lights T Junction.We need speed humps on the dual carriage way on both sides coming from Town side (North) and from Ndola or Chamboli side (South).The type of speed humps required here should be like those constructed along independence avenue in town at the Sacred Heart Catholic or those at Ndola central Hospital

  5. We need to improve on road signs in Zambia. The driver might have been speeding not knowing that there is a roundabout ahead due to poor road signs especially that it was the first time he was using the route. I believe that some accidents are avoidable if roads had good signs.

  6. Not long ago, i drove past a SA breweries truck that had lost its load near my place in pine-lands Capetown and wealthy motorists helped themselves to the booz before the police arrived. So to say poverty is the reason people in this case took the chickens is not entirely true. And please avoid painting the picture that this only happens in Zambia.If you have nothing positive to say about the country and its people,then keep quiet.

    • Look I would also join in unless it was a fatal accident where people had died.

  7. RTSA pls improve on road signs including speed limit signs.Usually there ARE traffic officers conducting speed traps while there are no speed limit signs.These roads are a danger to a new person.Pls remove that taxi station right up there at the round about.Why are RATSA and the COUNCIL NOT PROACTIVE?How do people still when police station is right up there?

  8. Why can’t we have roads dedicated for this tracks? How many people gonna dies from these. It so common place. offffffffffff

  9. I only have two points here. The first most important one is that Nangolo comes from Namibia, a country where signage is so commonplace you have no excuse to ignore them. Secondly, traffic management must involve a lot of things, chief of which is the enforcement of discipline for BOTH the pedestrian as well as the vehicle users/drivers. On the looting, this is a normal reaction – you do not have to live in poverty to engage in this practice. However, if there is swift police action (as happens elsewhere) this is usually minimized or mitigated with minimal cost.

  10. Looting with such mutilated bodies,hmmm obviously some chiken meat was contaminated with Human flesh,,hahaha..kulila pama bakamba. Is it the same road where post bus killed 70 people, i guess now their is an improvement cos. only two lives lost.

  11. The problem with our roads is lack of proper road signs. we hope the authorities there could do some to avoid futher loss of lives. MTSRIP

  12. My friends and I were involved in a car accident on the same Ndola/Kitwe dual carriageway some years ago and I’m still traumatized when I remember how we were robbed of everything we had, while we were screaming for help, they even frisked our pockets, looking for money. Heartless people

  13. I UNDERSTAND THE FRUSTRATIONS FOREIGN DRIVERS GO THROUGH AS THEY DRIVE THROUGH OUR ROADS. I DROVE FROM LIVINGSTONE TO LUSAKA THROUGH VARIOUS TOWNS LIKE MONZE. THERE WAS NO ROAD SIGN INDICATING HOW MUCH DISTANCE WAS BETWEEN TOWNS (BY SUBTRACTION OR ADDITION) AS I DROVE THROUGH OR PAST TOWNS.

    LATER ON, I DROVE FROM MANDA HILL IN LUSAKA TOWARDS CAIRO ROAD. THERE WAS NO SIGN WARNING ME ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE ROUNDABOUT S AS I APPROACHED ZRA OFFICE COMPLEX AND MADE A TURN TOWARD LIVINGSTONE. IF THEY WERE THERE THEN THERE WERE NOT CLEARLY VISIBLE.

  14. WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM WITH OUR POLICE IN ZAMBIA.
    SATURDAY EVENING THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT IN KITWE JUST NEAR YMCA ALONG INDEPENDENCE AVENUE DUE TO HEAPS OF SOIL ACTUALLY LEFT ON THE TARMAC AND ON A RAINY DAY BY KITWE CITY COUNCIL DOING LAND SCARPING.
    POLICE AND FIRE BRIGADE STOOD ALMOST HELPLESS AS CIVILIANS WORKED FLAT OUT TO RESCUE THE GENTLEMAN TRAPPED IN A TOYOTA CHASER REG No ACK 38.

    NEARBY,ANOTHER VEHICLE WAS IN AN ACCIDENT DUE TO THE SAME HEAPS OF SOIL.
    POLICE SAW THIS IN DAY TIME BUT IGNORED BECAUSE THERE WAS NO MONETARY GAIN IN IT.
    PEOPLE HERE DID NOT LOOT BUT WORKED TIRELESSLY TO RESCUE ANOTHER PERSON.

  15. Having being educated at Wusakile Primary School, i always crossed from the same scene daily coming from Natwange, memories!

  16. ITS NOT ONLY IN ZAMBIA THAT SUCH THINGS HAPPEN, I WAS WATCH AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION ON NAGEO (181) THE OTHER & WAS SHOCKED THE SAME HAPPENED ON THE CRASH SCENE.
    A NEARBY VILLAGE PEOPLE RUSHED THERE TO ROOT BELONGINGS OF THE DEAD & THOSE WHO SURVIVED BY NOT HELPING THEM TO SAFETY. THE PLANE WRECKAGE WAS ALSO NOT SPARED, SOME PARTS WERE REMOVED INCLUDING ONE BLACK BOX (FLEIGHT DATA RECORDER) WAS ROOTED TOO. THE HAD TO POST POSTERS FOR A REWARD IN ORDER TO RECOVER THE BLACK BOX, BUT UNFORTUNATELY WHEN IT WAS RETURNED IT WAS TEMPERED WITH & DAMAGED, THE DATA WAS NOT RECOVERED.
    THEN IN ZAMBIA WE MUST BE SERIOUS WITH OUR HEALTHY, IMAGINE THOSE CHICKENS FROM NAMIBIA & PIPO ROOTED WITHOUT KNOWING MAYBE THEY CAN BE CONTAMINATED (DISEASES), THE GOVERNT SHUD NOT TO ALLOW, SUCH TO PROTECT OUR…

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