Nine people including a six month old baby have died in a road traffic accident along the Kapiri Mposhi-Ndola highway.
The accident which occurred around 15:30 hours yesterday at Kashitu area about 30 km away from Kapiri Mposhi Boma involved a Toyota Hiace Minibus registration number ACM 2334 and an RK Motorways Macorpolo bus registration number ABG 7403.
The mishap happened when the two vehicles collided head-on when the driver of the Ndola bound Toyota Hiace with 16 passengers on board wanted to overtake another vehicle thereby colliding with an oncoming, Lusaka bound, Marcopolo bus.
A ZANIS news clue crew that rushed to the accident scene found police and council fire brigade officers removing the bodies from the minibus wreckage.
According to the driver of the Marcopolo bus, Wekson Sikazwe, who was found at the accident scene said accident occurred after the driver of the Hiace mini-bus wanted to overtake another minibus but ended-up ramming into the right hand side of his bus.
All the 72 passengers on the Marcopolo bus were unhurt while the Toyota Hiace driver is among the dead.
A survivor from the mini- bus who was found at Kapiri Mposhi General Hospital attributed the accident to over speeding on the part of the Toyota Hiace driver.
Kams Chimfwembe who has lost his daughter and brother in the accident and found at the hospital after being attended to, told ZANIS that the accident could have been avoided if the driver of the small bus, identified as Amos Chisanga, exercised patience when overtaking.
And Kapiri Mposhi District Medical Officer, Charles Mwinuna confirmed the death of the people who were brought in dead to Kapiri Mposhi District Hospital.
Dr Mwinuna said among the dead was a six-month old baby, five females and three males while eight survivors who sustained fractures and head injuries have been referred to Kabwe General Hospital.
Dr Mwinuna said two females among the survivors who have been referred to Kabwe sustained traumatic amputations.
The Medical Officer also said three more survivors with extensive bruises and cuts have been admitted to Kapiri Mposhi district hospital.
Meanwhile, Kapiri Mposhi District Commissioner, Beatrice Sikazwe who also visited the scene of the accident has regretted the loss of lives due to non observance of traffic rules by motorists.
Ms Sikazwe advised motorists to be cautious on the road to avoid accidents and further loss of lives.
The bodies of the deceased are lying in Kapiri Mposhi district hospital Mortuary awaiting identification and postmortem.
ZANIS
Sad news indeed.
Very sad indeed. May the souls of the departed rest in peace and may God comfort and touch the families of the deceased.
Zanis news crew not clue Mwalatusebanya
Its not Macorpolo, but Marcopolo (In the Title). It seems no one proof-reads these articles
A typical example of how lethal our roads have become.Alot of things gone wrong.No lessons will be learnt from this we await another accident.Thus how cheap life can be in Zambia.Sad .It will all be the minibus drivers faulty end of story.
IN fact the road between Lusaka and the Copperbelt should be a dual carriageway throughout. There is too much traffic on this road. In the night it is very dark and without proper road-markings it is a death trap. Politicians should be more interested in the lives of their voters than in their little luxuries at Assembly Hotel
That is sad! But this article needs reviewing.
RIP.My thoughts are with your families
Indiscipline on the part of road users has caused most of these deaths. We know our roads are bad and thats the more reason we need to be extra careful when using them. if you know the road is bad why not move at a decent speed? if you know the roads are bad why drink and drive? if you know the roads are bad why overtake unnecessarily? why using a defective vehicle etc. blaming the government for poor roads will not bring back the precious lives we have lost. but we cant prevent further loss of lives on our roads by being disciplined and observing traffic rules at all time as we push the government to put up a descent transport infrastructure.
Article definitely written by a Bemba. Clue for crew? Yaba!
fuseki
Wenkoko wei
Iwe kabwalala wabo mutwe nga Rupiah Banda. Anyway wansekesha sana!
Tears in my eyes !!
My question is: Why don’t passengers in the Toyota Hiace (or any other bus) tell the driver to slow down. It is their lives at risk. All the driver is thinking is about is getting to his destination on time and making that money. Very few drivers conceder the passengers if at all none of the minibus drivers. This are the most careless drivers on the streets.
These idiotic drivers do not listen. They abuse passengers and further threaten to do the most stupid thing if you put more pressure on them.
The owners of buses are also to blame. They need to take complaints by passengers seriously.
I am also saddened by this accident which could have been avoided.
I agree. I ve been in situations where I dont understand why none of the passengers inform the driver he shouldn’t play with their lives but they all just remain silent. Lets take it upon ourselves to councel these drivers
Our prayers go to the families of those who have lost loved ones and those in critical conditions. Maybe it’s time Zambia banned minibuses from traveling between cities. They are not very safe.
Don’t laugh then.
The government should find proper alternatives of controlling rampant road traffic accidents in our country.I think this is too much almost everyday i read of a road accident some where why really?Big States like USA with mega population can go without an accident for atleast three weeks or so what about Zambia as small and less populated as it is?God help us.
@Fresh mind, are you sure your mind is fresh? What has the government got to do with stopping the road carnage? For all I know, all min bus drivers are insane and have no respect for human life. Most of them drink and smoke dagga and cannot be controlled by anyone including passengers. Once you complain and ask them to reduce speed, that is when they even overspeed just to annoy a passenger or even ask you to get off their bus. So please don’t drag the government in such trivial matters. It looks like these days everything including being beaten by wives, they appeal to government ‘to do something’.
Yes Govt make laws and enforce them.they change those that are not effective etc. Who should initiate changes if not Govt ? All you cadre think is how to bootlick your PF- shame, let them leave if they can not protect us.
Kapaso you need to do your homework. Everywhere in the world it is agreed that the govt very much has a role in reducing road carnage. Do we see any traffic police on Zambian highways? Do we see speed traps? Do we see road signs? Do we have proper roads? To all these questions the answer is No.. so govt can be blamed for accidents.
Too sad indeed. May RATSA come with a random test for all Psv drivers as it appears
most of them do not adhere to the ten basics rules of driving.To driver any vehicle is not the same to adhere or observe the rules of driving. Ratsa Examiners will be surprised that most of this PSV drivers cannot recall Rule No.4 or No. 2.etc
and where is the stupid driver?
I remember 1 day I got into a heice min bus from chisamba going to Kabwe. The driver was rushing for the bus line in Kabwe. This guy was speeding I tell you @ 170km/hr + we even overtook a macopolo. The people started to pray in the bus and I was holding the seat tight just in case. This guy was terrible.
Heice should be abolished they are not meant for long distance carrying people like cows in a cow track.
I won`t be surprised if the driver of the small minibus will be found with traces of alcohol and Marijuana in his system.This is sad.
Sad news indeed. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the bereaved families. May God give them the strength in this difficult moment. It is a great loss both life and property. Hope the govt ,opposition leaders will do the same they did for FDD President’s loss of a daughter.Let govt declare a day of national mourning. It shouldn’t just be for politicians but everyone.
May their souls rest in peace.
So its the govmts fault again?hahahaha so sumbdy 4rm state house held da driver @ gun point and ordered him 2 overspeed?
These bus drivers are careless to say the least some of them over take on blind-spots at 120km/h….stiffer punishments for passenger driver licence holders and the bus owners is the way forward. Moreover its too easy to get hold of these licenses!!
What about making our highways dual- carriage the next time these inter-town roads are revisited for repairs?
Kapaso you are very right. One time I was travelling from Lsk to C/belt, I complained of over speeding the lunatic of a driver reduced the speed to a bare 50Km/hr. I felt like laying an egg.
The driver of the marcopolo could have also done something to prevent the accident such as slowing down. Surely he was not overtaking at a blind corner long enough not to see on coming vehicles?
We alwez cry foul, “its bcos of overspeeding”, same old cry! Solutions Nothing! So lets keep the crying and let mantain the death on our roads! Wen are we going to learn that the prblm of death on the road has a solution? Simply enforce speed limiters fulstop if u bliv speed is the prblm. Are we serious? Its like no death on the road then no good life for us, no crying “its bcos of overspeeding”, stop the lust for that cry and then the solution wl come by! I wish “overspeeding cud talk”, it wud tel u its nt responsible for death on our roads!!! Bt wt the PF in power, forget abot solutions neither can i offer myself for the consultancy!!!
It is just carelessness on the part of the minibus driver that led to this accident, if you have driven on this road before you can not blame the driver of the marcopolo. I would seriously urge Zambian drivers, particularly public service vehicle drivers to take time to read the 10 basic rules of driving atleast, if you can’t read the whole HIGHWAY CODE.
Dual carriage is the solution ZAMBIA PLEASE!!!
The only solution is for a Dual carriage way to be built on the most busy high way in the country , the Lusaka, Copperbelt highway. Very important!!!!
No. 4 you are very right. on my recent trip to Zambia, I was coming from the copperbelt and could see that there are no road markings and the bus drivers really do over speed. No speed limit signs and its so dark at night. Its really scary. we could definately do with a dual carriage way on the Lusaka copperbelt road. Just wish the government could seriously look into this. So many lives have been lost in road accidents in our country.
Toyata Hiace mini Buses should be banned for long distance traveling. They should only be local buses or just do away with them completely.
Dual- carriage road network needed!
Solutions
– Dual carriageways
– Stop selling drivers licences,
– Roads need serious maintenance programme
– Police need to stop taking bribes
Comments are closed.