Army bus and Kombi Fatal Accident claims 16 lives

army bus and Kombi accident

SIXTEEN people including a toddler, perished on the spot in a head on collision between a commuter omnibus and an Army bus yesterday afternoon.

The accident occurred at around 4:30pm, 45 kilometres from Chinhoyi towards Harare along the Chinhoyi-Harare Highway. H-Metro was on the scene of the accident when it occurred and witnessed the rescue team as it struggled to retrieve the bodies of the deceased from the wreckage.

It was a sobering and gory sight. All the deceased were travelling in the omnibus. Only three passengers, who were seated at the back seat in the omnibus are believed to have survived and were rushed to Parirenyatwa Hospital. About 14 passengers in the military bus sustained minor injuries.

Their condition was said to be extremely critical although there was no immediate position from the hospital. Their condition could not be ascertained at the time of going to print but authorities could not rule out the possibility of the figure of the deceased rising as the critically injured could possibly need life support and intensive care to recover.

H-Metro conducted an independent physical count of the deceased numbering 16 -a figure which was confirmed by the police when they made their own independent count. According to eyewitnesses, the white commuter omnibus with blue stripes (registration AB6889) was heading to Harare. The driver of the omnibus is said to have tried to overtake two cars with little leverage to return into its own lane.

The omnibus failed to return to the lane after which it rammed into the oncoming army bus which was in its legitimate lane. The military bus was heading towards the direction of Chinhoyi. It (the Army bus) was however believed to have been destined for the nearby Inkomo Barracks.

“The kombi driver tried to overtake two cars without realising that there was oncoming traffic. “So when both drivers (kombi and Army bus) realised their predicament, it was too late to avoid a head on collision,” said one female eyewitness who was sobbing. While she knew nobody on the omnibus, she confessed that she was sobbing after seeing the maimed lifeless corpse of the little toddler which lay on the dry winter grass beside the wreckage.

H-Metro arrived at the scene just minutes after the rescue team had arrived and it took more than an hour for the rescue team to retrieve the bodies because most of them were trapped in the wreckage. The omnibus is believed to be owned by one G. Munetsi of Bag 9 2B Woolwich Road in Willowvale (according to the address on the mangled omnibus).

It also had an inscription written ‘Sweetness’ on the side and it is believed to usually ply the City-Highfield route. When H-Metro left the scene, only 13 bodies were retrieved but the rescue operation was still in progress. The policemen present were not in a position to issue any official comment since they were still busy counting the bodies and searching for the identities of the deceased.

Paramedics were up until last night open to the prospect of the death toll rising. Last week, a local musician Alexio Kawara survived a car crash in the same road. ***For more photos of combined on-the-spot reaction to the accident by paramedics and H-Metro, see the picture gallery below and follow the news as it unfolds.