TWELVE PEOPLE died on the spot while 25 others were injured after a 26-seater Toyota coaster minibus lost control and plunged into Chifubu Stream in Ndola’s Chifubu Township yesterday.
Both Copperbelt Province Police Chief Martin Malama and Ndola Central Hospital Public Relations officer, Sheona Chalimbana confirmed the accident which happened around 15:30 hours yesterday.
Dr Malama said the driver of the bus, registration number ACH 349 escaped from the accident scene and that police have since launched amanhunt.
He said there were 45 people on the bus including children who fellowship at Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ), Chifubu Congregation.They were returning from a church expedition in Luanshya where they had gone last Friday.
Dr Malama said some people were still missing as a combined team of police officers and fire brigade only managed to rescue 25 and retrieved 12 bodies but added that the search operations had continued into last night.
He said that police were also investigating the cause of the accident and would issue a comprehensive statement soon.
Ms Chalimbana said that two people had been admitted to the IntensiveCare Unit (ICU) and described their condition as critical while 25 had been admitted to the Surgical ward.
She said among the dead were four females and eight males but could not release the names of the dead as the hospital was still compiling the list and informing the relatives to the deceased.
And Copperbelt Province Permanent secretary who rushed to Ndola Central Hospital upon receiving the news of the accident, said government would help the bereaved families with funeral arrangements.
He consoled the relatives of the deceased and those who had their relatives admitted in hospital outside the casualty wing.
And one of the victims admitted to Ndola Central Hospital, Judy Sakala who had accompanied the youths on the expedition as a Brigade Officer said that it was suspected that the steering wheel had locked making the driver to lose control of the bus.
[Times of Zambia]
Ooooohh!!!!!!!!!!! Another horrible moment!!!! May the souls of our departed brothers and sisters rest in internal peace. Toyota coaster????? I did not know that such buses still exist and on Zambian roads. The bus must have been very old.
A 26 seater minibus,12 perish and 25 injured bringing the total to 37. I guess the bus was over loaded. M.T.S.R.P
let a proper investigation be instituted. you’ll find maybe even that bridge has no proper barriers.
sqh #2 very good observation. Â It was almost twice over its load in terms of passengers, and I am sure the passengers had carried luggage. Â Can you imagine they went past all the traffic controls along the way? Â Or have the road blocks been removed following Kabonde’s directive, so these drivers are now doing what they want. Â The operator/driver must be charged … MTSRIEP.
I have no doubt in my my mind that whilst the poor and innocent souls were in church praying, the driver was busy with tugiligili. The end result is death of the innocent ones. I wonder when govt will ever burn them-in congo where there is no govt, tugiligili are burnt, here where we have goog governance, they are embraced! may God save our souls
Too bad and condolences to the bereaved families. I knew about the bridge way back in KK days and I am not sure whether it is in a good state or not. Still, driver careless, poor state of the coaster and overloading are to blame. Human life has become very cheap in Zambia.
THANKS TO KABONDE FOR REVOVING ROADBLOCKS COUNTRY WIDE.THIS IS THE RESULTS WE SHALL BE GETTING EVERYDAY FROM NOW ON BECAUSE THE USELESS UNQUALIFIED MINI BUS DRIVERS ARE LET LOOSE TO OVERLOAD PASSENGERS IN THEIR BUSES AS WELL AS DRIVE WHILE DRUNK.THIS VERY BUS THAT KILLED 12 AND INJURED 25 WAS OVER LOADED BY 11 PASSENGERS PLUS THE KATUNDUS. I THINK ITS TIME THE SO CALLED INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY STEPS IN AND HELP ZAMBIA BY DEPLOYING ROAD TRAFFIC POLICE OFFICERS FROM EUROPE AND TRAIN OUR LOCAL TRAFFIC COPS PROPERLY SO THAT THEY CAN BRING BACK SANITY ON OUR ROADS COUNTRY WIDE AND STOP THESE ROAD CARNAGE WHICH HAS NOW GONE OUT OF HAND..
Abdul … you may wish to know that the Europeans you are calling upon to send traffic officers don’t deploy them all over their roads. They simply have a culture of sanity in governing various aspects of public life. Having traffic officers at every corner of our roads will never be a solution to the problem of unqualified drivers because of corruption.
This is sad news. When u have 12 pipo dead, 25 injured and some still missing, it leaves no doubt what the cause could have been. OVER-LOADNING. The question then is : 1. who organised transport for them? 2. how did they move through the road blocks? M.T.S.R.I.P
#7 Am telling you even if there was these so called traffic cops they were going to pass through that road block as long as they give bribe the cops will let them go.i think they should introduce the cameras were you dont hav to negotiate or bribe anyone just to send them the bill like here in europe it would be better.M.T.S.R.I.P
sad indeed was there at the accident scence. i also question our authorities in the manner they manage accidents we are so ill equiped in addressing such issues. MTSRIEP.
#8 chifubu Resident. I suspect – Answer #1;The church organised this transport and obviously it became a good thing to book a 26seater bus which would carry more than 26passengers
Answer2:The driver started off late on friday evening(noRoadblock) and drove back sunday 15:00hrs(no Roadblock)
Too bad. MTSRIEP
There is really something fishy at this bridge!!!!!!!!!!!! too many lives have been lost in the past.MTSRIEP and the injured wishing u a quick recovery.
The church leaders to blame. How possible is a 26 seater carry 45 passengers? We have to be realistic as match as prayers are made. This is a big funeral.
My consolation is that we shall all die one day. If this was God’s arrangement My their souls rest in eternal glory. Otherwise f the devil is, Let the almighty deal with him severely.
I request RBto burn tugiligili especially as we head towards elections. More deaths will be recorded our youths are becoming unruly and may subjected to misuse by politicians.
My deepest condolences to the bereaved familities
may the souls of the departed rest in peace. God strengthen the bereaving families
5 kmg: what do mean by no govt in Congo? M.T.S.R.I.P
too bad losing 12 innocent lives coz of overloading and may the souls of the departed rest in peace
We all know that accidents are caused,they dont just happen which simply means that soemthing could have caused the accident to occur.Of course the first suspect is the over loading issue.I hope that as Church leaders we have learnt a lesson that we must make adequate transport arrangements so that our children do not get piled up in buses.May the good Lord Almighty console the bereaved families and may the souls of the daparted rest in eternal peace
The passing of the 12 people iz very sad. May the good Lord Jehova God Almighty strengthen the familiez and friendz.
The apportioning of blame on anyone won’t help matterz now, but to prevent the same from happening in future, there’z need to caution stake-holderz.
1. Church leaderz must ensure the safety of their “flock” when undertaking such trips despite the cost.
2. The driver/bus operator must also not work outside laid traffic rulez just for a quick buck.Â
3. The issue of police check-points iz very contentious and needz to be properly handled without any politiking.
Yaba cabija kapati, God be our comforter all, tumbulizye taata.
M.T.S.R.I.P. have got the information from my nephew who goes to Chifubu RCZ he said yes the bus was over loaded the driver made a mistake under estimated the distance, wanted to overtake the other car there was a car from the opposite direction when he was returning in his lane to avoid the head on collision he lost control and plunged in the stream. The funeral of all the deseased is being heald at the church thats CHIFUBU REFORMED CHURCH IN ZAMBIA in Ndola The driver of the minibus aliya pachani.
Sorry for the loss of life. But one thing is why has the PS rushed to say GRZ will assist the families with funeral arrangements? I am sure most families with the help from friends and relatives will cope without “help” tainted with campaign intentions.My sincere simpathy to the mourning brothers, sisters , mothers and fathers. God will show grace as he always does.
I visited Zambia last week, I was appalled with what I saw, these minibus drivers have no respect for other motorists, they have no control, where are the police and the council, do they exist? MMD should go because they have failed, the roads are in a bad state.
It is so sad that lives are lost so carelessly due to overloading. The bus was coming from Luanshya and there is a 24 hr roadblock at the entrance of the town. How did an overloaded bus pass the checkpoint. Looking at the registration of the bus ACH 349, the bus has been around for a while and road worthiness is suspect.
I lived in Luanshya for four years, the town has a “gate” with officers 24/7. There is also another roadblock just before entering the dual carriage. I’m sure the Police headquarters have the names of the officers on duty that night. They must be brought to book because honestly how can a 26 seater carry 45 people and go through the road blocks unnoticed? And the church leaders who organized the trip, seriously did they not use their logic before putting 45 children in a 26 seater bus? Pure negligence on both sides (Police and trip organizers). May the souls of these young ones rest in peace and may their blood stain all those who stole their lives ..
this has happened have we learnt anything?Surely it took a good 5 hours to remove the wreckage when are we going to have the equipment? Many thanks to Zambia Army MTSRIP