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| National |
| Double accident at Thunga |
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by
Edwin Nyirongo, 29 September 2004
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09:22:40
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Twenty eight people are nursing injuries at Thyolo District Hospital after minibuses they were travelling in got involved in separate accidents at the same place Tuesday at Thunga, about five kilometres from Bvumbwe..
A minibus Toyota Hiace registration number BM 9096 belonging to M. Nasawa of Mayaka in Zomba, was coming from Mulanje at around 9 AM when it crashed into a stationary truck registration number MHG 1331 belonging to Mr Onions of Balaka.
Driver of the minibus Peter Malindima said he did not see the truck till it was too late because of the fog that engulfed the area.
“I failed to jump to the other lane because another vehicle was coming in front. The next thing I saw was the situation I am in,” he said, with bandages in the head and cuts in the legs.”
Another minibus, DCM Toyota registration number KK 902 overturned at the same spot when passengers tried to push the door open in order to assist the victims of the Hiace accident.
Maxwell M’meta, owner of the bus, said the accident could have been avoided if passengers behaved calmly.
“The minibus stopped but as the passengers were trying to get out, their weight and the softness of the road side made it fall off the roadside into the water drain,” he said.
Thyolo District Health Officer Edwin Bakali said the hospital has registered 28 casualties from the two minibuses, one of them an under two months old baby.
He said some of the cases are “very serious” and would be referred to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.
“The hospital was so overwhelmed with the casualties that we had to move some to other wards,” he said.
The DHO said most of the injuries are in the legs and head.
“In many cases there are two or three fractures on one leg. Some of them were releasing blood when they were trying to breathe,” he said.
There was blood all over the accident scene when Nation Online visited it. |
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