8 dead in Chivhu-Nyazura highway accident
Crash victims include 1-year-old infant, according to police statement
By Staff Reporter
Eight people, among them a 1-year-old infant, died on Sunday evening when a Nissan Vannet VN200 vehicle they were travelling in was involved in a fatal head-on-collision with a Shackman truck along the Chivhu-Nyazura road.
The vehicle was carrying 11 passengers, police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said in a statement on Monday.
The accident, Nyathi said, happened at the 135-kilometre peg at Save Bridge just before 8pm.
“Preliminary investigations by the police indicate that the accident occurred after the Nissan Vannet N200 vehicle hit a grid on the bridge resulting in the ball joint of the vehicle dislodging. Subsequently, the vehicle veered onto the oncoming lane.
“The driver of the Shacman truck fled the scene, leaving behind the vehicle and some documents,” Nyathi said.
Police released names of seven of the dead accident victims.
They are Privilege Muzanenhamo (41), Elizabeth Tomu (30), Aleck Zenda (31), George Kamhunga (34), and Anotida Zenda (1) all from Timire Park, Ruwa outside Harare.
Also among the deceased were Angela Kamhunga, aged 25 and Wadzanayi Kamhunga (30), both from Kuwadzana 1 in Harare.
Police said bodies of the eight crash victims were taken to Murambinda Mission Hospital mortuary for postmortem while the injured are admitted at the same hospital.
Zimbabwean roads are said to be among the world’s most dangerous as five people die every day through road traffic accidents, according to authorities.
Most of the accidents are a result of avoidable human error.
